It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year
by Proudofyoubabe
Summary: Christmas at the Plums brings an unexpected present—a phone call during dinner that changes life as Steph knows it. Sex, lies and videotape all make an appearance. An eventual Babe HEA.
1. Chapter 1

This is just a short story (about three chapters) that's been living in my head for a while.

Thank you Margaret and Cindy for reading ahead and deeming this good to go. :) Much appreciated.

**Chapter One — Sex, Lies and Videotape**

It was Christmas Day. Joe had just dropped me back at my apartment after we had Christmas dinner with my family. I thought he might stay and that we might have a romantic evening together, but that didn't happen. Somewhere between my mom's baked ham and her pineapple up-side-down cake his cell phone went off.

As I was sitting next to him, I could hear a woman's voice on the other end of the line, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.

"That was Robin," he said to me, referring to Robin Russell, a fellow police officer and the woman who sometimes manned the desk at the station. "Andy called in sick with the flu and I have to take over his shift tonight."

His laughter and light banter with the recipient at the other end of the phone made me wonder, but only for a second. Joe doesn't lie to me. He just keeps information from me. And for the pervious second I thought the caller might have been Terri Gilman. It almost sounded like her voice, but as I said, I dropped it. It was Christmas.

So now I was back at my apartment with no tree, no Christmas decorations, and no wreath on my door. But I did own a CD of Christmas songs, so I put them on and took a little eggnog out of my refrigerator for a mini pity party.

My mother had pulled me aside after we opened our gifts. "Stephanie," she said, "I see that once again Joe hasn't given you a ring for Christmas — maybe a little gentle prodding would be a good idea."

"Mom, we're just not ready," I said, but now thinking about the call Joe got, I had to wonder if there might be more to it than that.

Out of the blue, my locks tumbled. Joe had the key to my apartment, and there was no lock ever made that could keep Ranger out. I made the quick assumption that Andy somehow made it into work after all and Joe was off the hook, so I wiped away the tears that had welled up in my eyes and turned around to see who my visitor was.

"Merry Christmas, Babe," Ranger said coming over, and wiping the remaining tear marks from my cheeks. "You're upset. What's the matter?"

"Nothing. What are you doing here? It's Christmas. Don't you usually spend it with your family?"

"Your lights were on and your car was in the parking lot. And I have a Christmas present for you," he said, avoiding answering my questions directly.

"For me?" I asked, feeling a little squishy inside. I had a present for him too. In fact I've bought presents for him every Christmas, but I never had the nerve to give him one before. But this one was different. It was perfect.

"Yes for you Babe," he said, handing me a small box.

"Wait. I have a present for you too." I went into my closet and found what I was looking for. Thank God I had wrapped it.

"You first Ranger," I said handing over my present.

"What is this Babe?"

"Open it. I found it at the mall and as soon as I saw it, I had to get it for you," I said, going into more detail than I wanted to.

Slowly Ranger unwrapped my present. He put the bow and the wrapping paper on my kitchen counter and used the side of his finger to pop the tape on the box. Once he moved the tissue paper out of the way, there it was: a ceramic red bat phone. It opened so you could put things inside and it had the Batman logo where a phone number would be on one of those old-school dial phones. I thought he could keep pens and pencils inside of it.

"I love it Babe," he said, clearly amused. "We seem to have similar ideas, open yours."

I removed the blue wrapping paper and small silver bow and put them aside. There was a box underneath and as I opened the lid, I held my breath. What could Batman possibly have gotten me?

Inside was a pair of Tiffany's Cushion hoop earrings.

"So personal Batman." I said, taking one of them out to look at it closely.

"Very personal Babe. Inside the earrings are tracking devices that go directly to Rangeman. I was tired of your cars blowing up and me worried sick that something had happened to you. I had them made especially for you from Tiffany's. They're one of a kind. But they should pass as just a very nice pair of everyday earrings."

"I don't know what to say Batman. Thank you." Part of me wanted to get angry. Yes they were beautiful. Yes, Ranger bought them, well, had them made, with me in mind. But once again they were something to keep tabs on me.

"Come here Babe, let me put them on you."

I took the three steps that were separating us and I handed Ranger the box. He tucked a curl behind my ear and removed the earring that was currently there. Earrings my dad gave me when I graduated from college. God, the electricity I felt when his hands touched me. He took one of the Tiffany earrings, put it through the hole and hooked it in place. If I thought about it long enough I could have found the whole thing very erotic.

"Beautiful," he said, taking a look at me.

He then did the same to the other side, letting his fingers linger on my ear and then delicately graze the side of my face. He then tipped my chin up to look at him and his lips came down on mine. It wasn't what I was expecting, but oh my God, it was a really nice kiss.

I couldn't help it. I put my arms around him to bring him closer and then I realized what I was doing.

"Batman, I don't know if this is such a good idea. I'm, I'm…" I said trying to come up with something to say so I wouldn't be hurt by his actions again.

"Mmmm Babe, you're what?" he asked kissing me again.

Oh God, I got all caught up in the moment and totally forgot what I had been objecting to.

"Ranger, you know I can't do this, don't you?"

He didn't answer my question, but kissed me once more. God he was such an excellent kisser — and I knew first-hand what else he excelled in.

"Babe, I want to show you something, and this has nothing to do with what just happened between us. Dios, you know I could kiss you all night long."

Hmm, that was different. A hint of an emotion from Batman.

"Do you know where Morelli is tonight?" he asked, not waiting for a reply from me.

"His phone rang at dinner and Robin told him he had to cover for Andy. He's working."

"Babe," he just said simply and sat us down on the couch.

"Hal took it upon himself to do some investigating," he started, watching my face intently as he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. "On more than a couple of occasions over the last few months he'd noticed Morelli's SUV parked in front of Terri Gilman's house when he made his rounds. He didn't think anything of it, as he assumed you were in one of your off again phases with Morelli. I guess he'd asked around and learned differently so a couple of weeks ago he planted a camera in a tree across the street from Terri's house. This is live."

Joe's SUV was indeed parked in front of Terri's house and as I looked beyond his car to Terri's front door, I saw Joe's arms completely wrapped around a slim blonde woman. I didn't need to see anything further.

"Ranger, how could you?" I said, anger in my voice. I was angry with Ranger for showing me. I was angry with Joe for lying and I was angry with Terri for, well, for being Terri I guessed.

"I'm sorry, but you needed to see for yourself, I didn't think you'd believe me if I just told you," he said getting up from the couch and walking into my kitchen to give me some space.

"I don't understand. And why did you pick tonight to tell me? It's Christmas, Ranger."

"There's never a good time to learn about these things. But I looked on my phone as I was coming here and all the evidence was right there in front of me. I didn't want to see you hurt again. Do you need to be alone? Do you want me to leave?"

"Yes. No. Fuck Ranger, I'm all mixed up."

"I could do that too, but I don't want to take advantage of you. You know I care about you Babe."

"God damn it Ranger, I wish you cared differently," I blurted out, not realizing what I was saying.

"Babe?"

"I know. You're lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships, you're not family material and your love comes with a condom, not a ring," I paraphrased the things he'd told me over the years.

"Babe, come here. I want to tell you something."

I got up from the couch and walked over to Ranger. As much as my instincts were telling me to stay away, I just couldn't.

He wrapped his arms around me again, but kept some space between us. I guessed he really did want to tell me something.

"I know I've said some pretty fucked up things to you in the past," he began, tucking a curl behind my ear, his eyes moving from the earring he just placed there to mine. "I can't undo the hurt I've caused you, I know that. But what if I said I wanted to try?"

"Wanted to try what Batman?"

"Do you have plans for New Year's Eve, Babe?"

"Looks like I don't anymore, but it wasn't a real date anyway. We were just going to sit in front of the TV with Bob and watch the ball drop."

"Stephanie, will you go out with me?"

"A date Batman?"

"Yeah Babe, a date."

"Am I a rebound?"

"I wouldn't do that to you. I was going to spend New Year's Eve working the monitors to let my men have the night off, but I can bring in a couple of contract workers. I'd like to take you out for dinner and dancing."

"So this was just impromptu?"

"Not really Steph, I've been wanting to take you out for a long time. I've just never manned up to what I wanted to do before."

"And you're manning up now?"

"I guess you could say I'm growing up now."

I didn't know what to say to that. I was still slightly angry with him for both the tracking devices inside a pair of beautiful earrings and the way he told me about Joe.

"So Steph, will you go out with me?"

He looked like a little kid asking for that toy he really wanted. Slightly shy, if Batman could ever be shy and slightly embarrassed, as if he could ever be embarrassed either.

"Ok Batman, it's a deal."

I saw his face light up and he pulled me to him and kissed me again. "Thank you Babe. Uh, I don't know if it's such a good idea for you to be alone tonight, but I have to go to Newark. I have some presents to bring to my family. Would you like to come with me?"

So he did see his family at Christmas. He was somewhat human after all.

"They don't know me. Wouldn't it be weird me coming for Christmas?"

"I think they know more about you than you'd think. My sister Celia has a big mouth."

"You've spoken about me?"

"After we bumped into Marty Sanchez, he called Celia. She asked me about you."

"Oh God."

"So, do you want to come with me?"

"Am I dressed ok?" I had changed into sweat pants and one of Ranger's t-shirts that somehow found its way into my apartment. I figured if I stayed in the car I'd be ok.

"Is this what you wore earlier?"

"No. I had a skirt on. Give me two minutes and I'll put it back on." I guessed I was meeting Batman's parents.

Since I was wearing heels we took the elevator down to my lobby and went out the back door to the parking lot. Ranger's 500-horsepower, all-wheel drive, Porsche 911 Turbo was parked right by the door. I'd never understand how he did it.

He fobbed his car and opened the passenger-side door for me. After he made sure I was in, he closed the door and went over the driver's side. He started up the car and you could just feel the power that this car held. I always loved being in this car, especially at night. I felt like I was in a rocket ship.

He got on the parkway and headed north. We got off at one of the Newark exits. He made a couple of turns and then he parked the car. We were on a residential street of single-family houses. Not unlike my parents' house in the Chambersburg section of Trenton.

"We're here Babe."

He was out of the car and had my door open for me before I even had my seatbelt undone. He took my hand and we walked up his parent's walk together; his shopping bag of gifts tight in his other hand.

Before we got to the door, someone opened it and smiled broadly at us. It was the same 200-watt smile that Ranger had, so I assumed it was a relative.

"So Carlos, you've finally graced us with your presence. Is this Stephanie?"

"Stephanie, this is my sister Celia. Celia, this is Stephanie Plum."

"Nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you."

Shit. "It's nice to meet you too. But unfortunately you're the only relative whose name I even know."

"Come inside, I'll introduce you," she said, super-friendly.

"Everyone, this is Carlos' _associate_, Stephanie."

"Stephanie, this is my mother, Gloria, my dad, Ricardo, my sister, Daria, my other sister, Isabel and my little sister, Lauren," she started introducing people in the orderin which they were sitting. "Daria's husband Eric and my husband Rob," she continued. My brother Alex is somewhere." "Alex. Come meet Stephanie," she called.

Carlos's mom and dad got up to welcome me into their home and into their arms. They were very warm and loving.

"It is so nice to finally meet you," Gloria said. "We've heard about you for years."

"All good, I hope," I said, looking over at Ranger, who was clearly amused. After Ranger and I were hugged and kissed by everyone, they invited us to sit down.

"Can I get you anything Stephanie?" his mother asked. "We ate earlier, Carlos wasn't sure what time he'd be able to get here and told me not to wait for him."

"I'm good. I had dinner at my parents' a few hours ago."

"Some water? A glass of wine?"

The wine sounded good, especially now that I seemed to be the center of attention. "You know, a glass of wine sounds like a good idea."

"Carlos?"

"I'll bring it mom, sit down."

Ranger got up and made his way into the dining room. He opened a couple of cabinets and came back with a handful of glasses and a bottle of red wine.

"I wasn't sure who else wanted any, so I brought the bottle and glasses. Mom? Dad?"

Carlos' mother and his sisters Celia and Isabel joined us for a glass of wine. Just then his brother came in from outside, he looked cold and was putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Hey Carlos. Nice to meet you Stephanie," he said, extending his hand to me and hugging Ranger. "I'm sorry; I was on the phone with my kids. My ex has them today."

"Please everyone, call me Steph. I feel like I've done something wrong when you call me Stephanie."

Alex took the last empty glass that was on the table and poured himself some wine. "Salud."

"Salud," I said back, toasting Alex. I really liked Ranger's family.

All of a sudden I heard a door slam and lots of feet came running into the living room. This time it was Ranger who did the introductions.

"Stephanie, these are my nieces and nephews; minus Alex's kids. Madeleine, Ariel and Leo belong to Daria and Eric, and Sean and Spence are Celia and Rob's. Alex has twin boys Derek and Dylan and a daughter Ava."

I'd never remember anyone's name. "Hi guys, I'm Steph," I said.

Carlos passed out presents to his mom, dad and siblings and handed envelopes to the kids and a few to Alex, I assumed for his kids.

Someone reached under the tree and started pulling out other wrapped packages. They all went to Ranger.

"I told you, I don't need anything, but thank you," he said.

"Open them," I urged, clearly wanting to see what his family bought him for Christmas.

"Carlos, what did you get Stephanie?" his sister Celia asked, opening her small box, which looked like it contained earrings too.

"Babe, want to show them your earrings?"

I tossed my hair back to show off the tracking devices on my ears. "They're multi-functional," I said. "Ranger installed GPS's in them, now he'll know where I am when my cars go off the grid."

His mother looked at him with what I could only call displeasure. "Carlos."

It looked like he got a card with money from his mom and dad. He got two Wii games: one from his brother and one from Lauren. I didn't even know he had Wii. He got a framed photo of his nieces and nephews from Daria and a pink shirt from his sister Celia. Yes, pink. Once everyone had opened their presents, his sister Isabel came over to him and spoke softly. "Carlos, I'm sorry. I didn't get anyone presents this year. I didn't have much money left after getting that apartment on my own. Evan pretty much took everything."

"It's ok Izzy, don't worry about it and let me know if there's anything I can do to help you."

We stayed maybe another hour and then I started to yawn. It was probably the wine.

Ranger looked over at me. "I think I need to get Stephanie home. This has probably been a long day for her."

I'll say.

We got our coats, collected Ranger's presents and said our goodbyes to everyone. I even asked where the kids were so I could stick my head in to say goodbye. Finally we were packed into the Turbo and heading back to Trenton.

"Thank you Ranger," I said when we were on the highway.

"What for Babe?"

"For introducing me to your family. It's funny though, they seemed to know all about me."

"I told you, Celia has a big mouth. Where would you like to go Babe? You can come with me to Haywood or I can bring you back to your apartment."

"My apartment, please. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure Babe, anything."

"Why now?"

"I don't want to lose you. If I didn't man up, I got the feeling you'd tell both me and Morelli to go take a hike. I care about you Stephanie, perhaps more than I let on."

"Me too," I said softly, biting my lip. But I guessed I didn't speak softly enough because Ranger took my hand and brought it to his lips.

"Ranger, don't take this the wrong way, but I want to be alone tonight. I need to think and I have to call Joe and end this once and for all."

"Can I call you tomorrow Babe?"

I nodded my head yes and he kissed my hand again.

"I'm going to see you to your door," he said, pulling into my parking lot and getting that same spot, right in front.

Once again he opened the door for me and helped me out of his car. We took the elevator to two and he took my keys from me to open my front door. Of course he did the once around the place to make sure there were no bad guys lurking in corners before he let me enter. I really didn't know what to make of this Ranger; but I liked what I was seeing.

"Ok Babe, you're good. Thank you for the nice evening tonight. And thank you for my bat phone. It's going on my desk. It will make me think of you every time I look at it."

And then he kissed me. A wonderful kiss with just a hint of tongue; well enough so that I knew if we didn't stop now, we wouldn't stop at all. And I wanted to take this slow. And most of all, I _had_ to call Morelli.

"Merry Christmas, Ranger," I said, seeing him to my front door.

"Merry Christmas, Babe. I'll call you tomorrow, but if you need me after you've spoken to Morelli, don't hesitate to call."

"Ok, bye."

And he gave me another kiss before he left.

Before I called Morelli, I needed a sanity check, so I called Mary Lou. I knew she was having Christmas at home and both her mother and her mother-in-law would be at her house in case one of the kids had a meltdown while we were on the phone. Although I didn't think we'd be on the phone that long. And it was late; the kids were probably were all in bed and both moms had long gone home.

"Mare? It's Steph." I announced myself once she answered, although we've known each other since kindergarten so introductions really weren't necessary. "Merry Christmas."

"Ok what gives. You never call me just to wish me Merry Christmas. You'd send me a card or a text or an email, what's going on?

"Am I that transparent? I asked hoping she'd say no.

"Yeah. You know I love hearing from you, but something must be up for you to call me at almost eleven at night on Christmas."

"Do you know anything about Morelli and Terri?" I asked, the words coming out like a slow hard shit.

"Word on the street or just hearsay?"

"Cut the shit Mary Lou, you know what I mean. Lenny hangs out with that bunch of local guys, they know what's going on."

"Len," I heard her call, "It's Steph. She's asking about Joe."

I heard mumbling. Mary Lou had her hand over the phone. This wasn't going to be good.

Suddenly Lenny picked up.

"Hey Steph. Merry Christmas. How ya doing? Mare says I need to tell you what I know. Please don't hate the messenger." He paused waiting for a reply, but I didn't give him one. "Yeah, Joe's been spending time with Terri. Anthony told him he needed to tell you, but as far as I can gather, he hasn't. Listen, I hate be the one to tell you this, but whatever you've heard is true. He's cheating on you."

I don't know how I held it together, but I did. "Thanks Lenny. You and Mare are good friends. I appreciate your honesty. Can you put Mary Lou back on?"

He didn't say goodbye or acknowledge my thank you, but I didn't expect him to.

"Mare?" I asked once the tenor of the voice changed. "What would you do?"

"I'd fucking kick his butt, but he's a cop. Confront him."

"Thanks Mare, you're the best friend a girl could have. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what happened."

Fuck. I had to do it, and I had to do it now. I dialed his home number. It rang four or five times before it went to voicemail. Ok, so I wasn't going to call his personal cell, but I'd call his TPD issued phone, he would have to answer that.

It rang twice before someone answered.

"Morelli here."

"Joe, it's Steph."

"Hey Cupcake. Why are you calling me on this line?"

I could hear that he was slightly out of breath and I didn't want to know why.

"Joe, where are you?"

"I've been chasing someone the TPD wants to question. Excuse me while I catch my breath."

"Joe, don't fuck with me. I know."

"Cupcake?"

"I know about Terri. Ranger showed me some video and Lenny just told what he knows. God damn you Joe, I thought you were better than your father. You know what Joe? Fuck you. I have no patience for this shit anymore. Fuck you and I hope you enjoy the rest of your life."

The tears were coming fast and furious now as I slammed the phone down and let them run down my cheeks. I couldn't catch my breath. This was almost too much for me to handle. What were you supposed to do when you hyperventilated? Put a paper bag over you face and breathe in? Shit. I couldn't remember. All I could remember was that Ranger said to call him. So I did.

Gasp. Gasp. "Ran—"

"I'll be right there Babe."


	2. Chapter 2— Romancing the Stone

It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year.

Thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go. I hope it's not too sappy, as any of you who have read my stuff before know, I think Steph and Ranger should be together forever :).

**Chapter Two — Romancing the Stone**

For the second time in one day, the mechanism tumbled in my lock and someone opened my door. I was hoping it was Ranger; I certainly didn't want to see Joe now.

"Babe? Are you ok?"

"Ranger, I can't catch my breath," I hyperventilated.

"You need to get some carbon dioxide into your lungs. I want you to breathe slowly and just through one nostril. One breath every five seconds. Ok? Count with me," he said, putting my hand over one nostril and counting with me to five.

Finally my breathing slowed down and I collapsed into his arms.

"Ranger, thank you. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't get my breathing back to normal."

"It's ok Babe. How are you feeling now? Lightheaded?"

"Yeah, a little dizzy."

"I'm going to stay with you. I don't want to leave you alone."

I washed my face and got ready for bed. I knew Ranger would honor my wishes, but I also knew from past experience that he'd want to sleep in my bed. He just wasn't a couch kind of guy.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ranger asked as I came out of the bathroom.

I shook my head no and grabbed a pillow. I held it tight to my body and I could feel myself tensing up again. Maybe getting it off my chest would be a good idea.

"Yes," I said finally. "After you left I called Mary Lou, and Lenny told me the same thing you did, so I called Joe."

Ranger didn't say anything, but let me continue.

"He was all out of breath like he'd been, well, you know, like he'd been…and he was denying it. God damn him. He told me he was chasing down criminals. I told him I knew and I probably told him to fuck himself or something like that and then I slammed the phone down. I don't remember anything else. I couldn't breathe and then you were here."

"Babe you called me."

"You said to call you if I needed you."

"I'm glad you called," he said softly, tucking a curl behind my ear. "Let's get some sleep. We can talk about this again in the morning if you want."

I slept pretty well considering the events right before bedtime and I woke up knowing I wasn't alone. For a minute I thought it was Joe, but then everything came back to me and I let myself lean into the warm body behind me. I felt arms come around me and hold me tight.

"Babe. How are you?"

"Good morning Ranger. I think I'm ok. Thank you for being there for me."

"You needed me. Do you have any plans for today?" he asked, turning me towards him and lifting a curl out of my face.

"Not really. Vinnie closed the office until after New Year's so he and Lucielle could go on a cruise. And unless you have some searches for me to run for Rangeman, I've got an empty plate."

"Would you like to go to the mall to look for a dress and shoes for New Year's Eve?"

"Are you offering to go with me?" I asked slightly suspicious of Ranger's intentions.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll take you to the mall if you'll go to the movies with me afterwards. I really want to see the new Quentin Tarentino film and I don't necessarily feel like going by myself."

"Django?"

"Yeah Babe. It opens today."

Well I liked Jamie Foxx, so sure, why not?

"OK, you have a deal."

"Why don't you shower and get ready and I'll take you out to breakfast first."

"No gym this morning?"

"I'll go for a run while you're in the shower."

"Knew you couldn't stay away. Do you want a key so you can get back in?"

"Babe."

"Oops, sorry. I forgot. You have a way with locks."

I got up to take a shower and deal with my less than obedient hair. Once I had it under control, I added a couple of coats of mascara and I was ready to go. I had just put my makeup bag away when I heard my locks tumble. Ranger was back.

He looked so handsome. His well-cut hair was hanging damply over his forehead and he had beads of sweat covering his very muscular chest when he took off his T-shirt.

"Shower Babe. I'll be ten minutes."

And I was pretty sure I could set a timer to those ten minutes.

"Can I use some of this gel?" I heard him ask from the bathroom once the water stopped running.

"Of course Ranger. Feel free to use anything I have in there."

"I found an extra toothbrush," he called again. "I hope you don't mind that I opened it. We can pick you up another at the mall later."

"It's ok Ranger. My dentist gave me about six the last time I was in for a cleaning. I bet I have a few more somewhere."

"I just threw on these clothes when you called last night, so I don't think anything is dirty," he said coming out of my bathroom in just a towel and grabbing the clothes he left on the chair last night.

Ranger isn't shy about his body and I'd seen it all before on a number of occasions, so I was a little taken aback when he went into my bedroom with his clothes to change.

"Babe, are you ready?" He had used the hair gel that I use as an anti-frizz thing to give him a kind of 'messed up' look. God he was edible.

"Ranger, you look hot," I said. "What are you trying to do to me?"

"I'm not trying to do anything. Let's go get some breakfast."

We took the stairs down to the parking lot and got into his turbo. It was exactly where he'd parked it the first time last night, right in front of my back door.

"I'll never be able to figure out how you do this," I said taking a seat on the passenger side. "Do you just wish away all other vehicles?"

"I guess I'm just lucky," he said smiling.

"The diner?" he asked as I bucked my seatbelt.

"Yeah, the diner would be fine," I answered, less than enthusiastic.

"Babe? Something you're not telling me?"

"Well Joe usually goes to the diner for breakfast, and I guess I'd rather not bump into him right now."

"How about we go to the Crystal Diner in Lawrenceville then? We'll be right by the mall."

"I don't think I've ever been there, sure let's go."

The waitress seemed to know Ranger. She smiled a smile of recognition at him as we walked in and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Babe, this is my cousin Stella Manoso. Stella, this is Stephanie Plum. Stella is a second-year medical student at Temple University. She works here part-time. The food is good here."

Stella took us to a table in the back, poured us some coffee and left us with a couple of menus. She didn't seem overly anxious to find out who I was or what I was doing with her cousin. Maybe Celia filled her in too.

I ordered blueberry pancakes and Ranger ordered a spinach and mushroom egg white omelet.

"Babe, any idea what kind of dress you want to get for New Years?" he asked me while we were waiting for our food.

That kind of took me back for a second; did Ranger really care about these things? "No, but I have to peruse the sale racks. I used up all my extra money on Christmas presents. Valerie's girls' needed things."

"Don't worry about it, just find something you like. I'll put it on my credit card."

"I can't let you do that Ranger. You're taking me out, I should at least buy my own clothes."

"Well what if you think about it as an advance on your next Rangeman job. I'll have a number of searches for you to do next week. Rodriguez is going on vacation."

"Well, as long as I can pay you back."

Our food arrived and it all looked fabulous. I took one bite of my perfectly stacked pancakes that seemed to have an extra amount of blueberries in each one and I let out a little moan.

"God Ranger, these are fabulous."

I couldn't help but notice Ranger look a little uncomfortable at my outburst. I'd been told before that the sounds I'd made while I was enjoying my food sounded slightly orgasmic. Well if the food was orgasmic, wouldn't that make sense? Jeez people.

It looked like Ranger enjoyed his breakfast too, although he didn't touch even one of the French fries that came with it. And they looked too good to just leave there.

"Are you going to eat these Ranger?" I asked, eyeing one of the half-inch by three-inch potato spears that were deep-fried to golden perfection.

"You can have them Babe," he said scooting his plate over to me.

I didn't want to look like a little piggy in front of Ranger, so I just took one to see if they tasted as good as they looked. God, they did. Ok, so I'd have a couple more and I'd be fine. Unfortunately, the next thing I knew his plate was empty. Guessed I ate them all.

Ranger was watching me intently, but he didn't say anything.

"Ready Babe?" he asked after there was nothing left on either plate.

"Thank you Ranger, that was a wonderful breakfast. Yes, I'm ready."

He paid the bill and I noticed he'd left a huge tip. On our way out we said goodbye to Stella and he promised we'd be back. He put an arm around me protectively as we walked down the steps and over to the turbo. It felt nice and comforting and I leaned into him.

He stopped, tucked a curl behind my ear and he kissed me.

"Mmm. French fries."

"God, I probably have breath mints somewhere," I said taking my purse off my shoulder to dig for them.

"It's ok Babe, I like the taste of French fries on you." And he bent down and kissed me again. Oh God.

At least we were in a public place, so I knew this wouldn't go any further than just a few kisses. And although it felt really good, I wasn't ready for anything more from Ranger right now anyway.

Once we got into the car and had buckled up, Ranger asked again about a dress.

"Babe, I think we should go to Lord &Taylor's first. They carry BCBG Max Azria and I think their cuts would look good on you."

"Been shopping for women lately?" I asked as his knowledge of women's clothing threw me a little.

"You think I don't read the supplement sections that come in my Sunday Times?"

I didn't even know he got the Times, let alone read it. I'd never seen one strewn out in his apartment.

"I'm on a budget Ranger, how about we go to Forever 21?"

"I told you I have my credit card and Lord & Taylor also has a large selection of shoes. I read that they're having a sale on women's shoes now."

How could I not check out a shoe sale? "OK Ranger, you got me on the shoes."

Ranger found parking right in front of Lord & Taylor and he helped me out of the car like I was a movie star. A motion not unnoticed by passerbys who stopped to gawk. Of course he was unphased by the attention and after he fobbed his car locked, took me by the elbow and ushered me into the store. I wasn't used to this kind of treatment, but I have to say, I liked it.

"Babe, let's look at dresses first," he said, when I stopped at one of the shoe displays to see what shoes were on sale. "I think you'd like to get shoes to go with your dress and not the other way around."

I really had no idea where the cocktail dresses were in Lord & Taylor, as I said, I shop Macy's sale racks and Forever 21. But Ranger seemed to know and led me to the dress department.

"Babe, what size are you? You look like you're maybe a six?"

"Pretty good guess, Ranger. Depending on the cut, I'm either a four, a six or an eight."

"Babe, look at this dress," he said lifting a BCBG Max Azria dress off the rack for me to look at.

It was stunning. It was flirty, feminine, sexy and black. "That's beautiful."

He found a few others, a champagne-colored one with sequins, which looked like it hugged every curve. A short lacy ruffled thing and a red gathered number. All were stunning and all were expensive.

"Why don't you try these on? If you want to show me, I'm a good judge of how things look on you. If you don't want to show me you don't have to. I'll be right here."

I tried them all on. First by myself and then I decided to give Ranger's taste a try, since I couldn't make up my mind. True to his word he was waiting right at the entrance to the dressing room.

I came out first in the black flirty dress.

"Babe, you look beautiful, but I think you need a smaller size," he said, examining the dress on me.

"Let me show you the champagne one next. It fits much tighter."

"Ok, I'll find you a size four in this black dress while you change."

I went through all the dresses and Ranger added his comments. We seemed to like the same two the best — the black flirty dress and the tight champagne one.

"Why don't you get both of them Babe? I think the champagne dress is perfect for New Year's, but the other is more practical and you can wear it to any affair."

"Ranger, I don't go to too many affairs, and these dresses are expensive."

"Why won't you let me spend my money on you?"

"We're not even going out Ranger. I'll feel like you're trying to buy me."

"Babe, you just accepted my offer of a date for New Year's Eve; I took you out for breakfast this morning and we're going to the movies later. I think that counts as going out."

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't disagree with his logic and I let him buy me the dresses.

Finding shoes turned out to be so much easier. There were a pair of Jimmy Choo strappy sandals on the sale rack that had been marked down a number of times as they were the last pair left. They were my size and at $79 they were totally affordable. Plus they worked with both dresses, so I used my close-to-the-limit credit card to pay for them. Ranger did tell me he had work for me next week, so I was counting on that to be able to pay my bills.

As we walked back to Ranger's Porsche, he carried my bags in one hand and led me by the elbow with his other. Such the perfect gentleman.

"I have the app on my phone, let me check the times and theatres where Django is playing. If there's nothing playing now, we may want to have dinner first."

"It's playing at the AMC Hamilton on Sloane, there's a 4:55, a 6:05 and a 7:20, so I'm assuming it's playing in two theatres there. If we go to the 7:20, we can grab an early dinner before the movie. Have you been to either Malaga's or Tessara's?"

"Um, no."

"Tassara's is Italian and Malaga's is Spanish. Any preference?"

"I've never had Spanish food. Latin food yes, but never Spanish. Will I like it?"

"You'll love it Babe. I'll call Ramiro and Angela, the owners. They'll set us up with a table so we won't have to wait."

And he did just that. Twenty minutes and a couple of sentences in Spanish later we were seated at a table for two in the back of a quaint little place.

"Ranger look, it says they have Flamenco Dancing here on the first and third Wednesday of each month," I said, reading from the menu. "Does that mean someone entertains you or does that mean the audience dances?"

"It's both. Julia Lopez has been performing here for a while. She's fabulous but she also invites the audience on stage to participate if they want. We can come back when she's here if you'd like to see her."

I just looked at him quizzically. He was speaking as though we'd be doing this more often.

"Babe I told you. I care about you more than I've let on. I really would like to take you places and show you things. Dios, I don't think you know what you do to me." He took my hand in his and brought it to his lips, looking at me intently as he did so. It made my heart go pitter-patter.

"You want to go out with me?" I asked since he seemed to be beating around the bush.

He smiled. It was his 200-watter. God he was handsome. "Yeah, Babe, I do." He paused and then changed the subject. "I recommend their Paella de la Valencia or their Camarones en Salsa de Vino, both are spectacular."

"Paella is that rice thing with chicken and sausage and seafood, isn't it?" I asked, so I didn't have to think about what he just told me. "I think I'd like that."

"One order is big enough for us to share. Would you like some wine with dinner?"

I nodded. Guessed I was going to be wined and dined.

"Red sangria, Babe?"

I nodded again. The waiter appeared and Ranger ordered in Spanish.

I have to say dinner was fabulous. Ranger was attentive and the food couldn't have been better. Ranger used his iPhone to pre-order us tickets for the movie and we had nothing else to do, but enjoy dinner and each other.

And Ranger seriously wanted to know about me. My likes, my dislikes, my sister, Mary Lou and anything else I was willing to share. He told me about his conversation with Julie yesterday and how she wanted to come north for a couple of weeks during the summer to get to know him better.

"Dessert Babe? I understand their flan is as good as it gets."

"Ok, I'll try their flan. Can I get their Spanish coffee too?"

"Have you ever had Spanish coffee Babe? It's very strong."

"That's ok, I like espresso."

Next time I'll pass on the Spanish coffee. Ranger was right; it was strong. Plus it had some alcohol in it; maybe it was Tia Maria? We spoke a little more over dessert and he kept taking my hand. He was either holding it or kissing it and he made me feel, this is going to sound cliché, but seriously he made me feel special.

"Babe, we need to leave if we want to get good seats," he said looking at his watch and calling our waiter over.

He paid the bill, and once again, I noticed he'd left a huge tip.

We drove to the movie theatre and as only Ranger luck would have it, we found a spot right outside. I mean, right outside. There were only a handful of people in the theatre so we had our choice of seats and sat dead center halfway up the stadium seating. Perfect seats.

About ten minutes into the movie trivia that was on screen I saw two people that I knew walk into the theater. Fuck. It was Joe and Terri. God damn him. He never took me anywhere, but he certainly went out of his way to take Terri to the movies. A couple of towns out of his way to be exact.

Ranger saw them too. "Babe are you ok? Do you want to stay?"

I felt the hurt sting again as the tears welled up in my eyes and I shook my head. No I didn't want to be in the same theatre as the two of them. It was just too much of a slap in the face.

It was ok with Ranger; I guessed he didn't need to see the movie that badly. We discretely got up and walked out before the movie began. Joe and Terri never saw us.

As we drove back to Trenton I was a little upset, but the further we got from them, the less upset I was feeling. Ranger took my hand and brought it to his lips once more.

"Babe, it's a beautiful night; there's not a cloud in the sky. Have you ever been up to the roof at Rangeman? The cold night air is cleansing and the view is spectacular."

I could use a little cleansing and I knew I wouldn't be cold if Ranger was with me, so I followed him up to seven and then up a staircase left of the elevator to the roof.

"God it's beautiful up here," I said once he'd opened the door for me. And it was. We could see all the lights of the city done up in their Christmas magic. Ranger took my hand and we went over to the north side of the building.

"Babe, look, we can even see Manhattan." He was behind me with his arms around me and he was pointing to the new World Trade Center that was being built. The spire was in place and it could be seen clearly because of all the lights around it. It was beautiful.

"That's a far cry from the old ugly towers," I said. "It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful Babe," he said, tuning me around to face him. "And thank you for letting me spend today with you." He bent down and kissed me. God it was a perfect kiss.

"Are you trying to seduce me Ranger," I asked once we broke apart.

"No Babe, I'm trying to romance you."


	3. Chapter 3—From Here to Eternity

_It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year_

**Happy New Year!** Thank you for all the wonderful reviews on this story. I'm a little overwhelmed, I didn't expect so many. Thank you. I was planning on this being a simple three chapter story, but the story took on a life of it's own, and it seems to want to go on. But just one extra chapter, I promise :)

And thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go. :)

**Chapter three — From Here to Eternity**

No one had ever said anything so beautiful to me before. Dickie wanted to have his cake and eat it too and Joe, well I don't know what Joe wanted. Maybe what he was looking for was that perfect 'Burg wife. I certainly failed in that department. Not only couldn't I cook, but I was seriously lacking in the green thumb department and I had no inclination to learn about either. Sex I could give him, but I guessed sex wasn't the only thing he was looking for or he wouldn't have had to seek out Terri behind my back.

"Babe are you ok? You seem lost in thought."

"No one has ever said anything like that to me before. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We should we get you home Babe. It's late and it's cold out here."

"You really are serious, aren't you?"

"If you mean serious about taking you places and buying you things, yes, I couldn't be more serious. You're a very beautiful woman, both inside and out and you deserve beautiful things."

"Ranger I don't want to be by myself tonight, but I'm not ready for anything more just yet. Can I stay here with you?"

"Of course Babe. If you want me to sleep on the couch I can do that too."

"You didn't sleep on the couch last night. I'd rather have you near, if that's ok?"

"Is Rex going to be ok by himself or should I have one of my men get him and bring him here?"

I smiled at that. "Rex will be fine. I left him food and water, but thank you for asking. No one has ever asked about him before."

"Then let's go inside Babe. I don't think you're dressed warm enough to stay out here much longer."

Ranger brought me in and locked up the roof access. I thought it might be nice to bring a table and chairs up there when the weather got warmer. The view was phenomenal and I was pretty sure his men would want to take advantage of it too.

"Babe, make yourself at home. I'm going to go back down to the car and get your dresses. We can hang them in my closet, I would hate for them to get wrinkled."

"Thank you. Ranger, do you have any tea? I think I'd like some."

"There are a few kinds in the cabinet to the left of the sink. Help yourself. Can you make me one too?"

"Thank you. I think I know where your cups are. I'll use your microwave so I don't mess up too many dishes."

"I have a dishwasher, don't worry about it; use whatever you want. I'll be right back."

I found some ginger tea and made a cup for both of us. I was letting them steep when Ranger came back up with my dresses and the shoebox. Guessed he didn't want to leave anything in his car overnight.

"Mmm. That smells good Babe. Why don't you take the left side of my closet? I think there are a few of your T-shirts and cargos from when you worked with me last. Maybe some other things too. Ella gets carried away sometimes."

I took the dresses and walked into Ranger's bedroom to put them in the closet. Ranger was right, in the spot where he mentioned there were a few Rangeman T-shirts and cargo pants that would have been way too small for Ranger. They must have been mine. And on the shelf above them were a few pair of simple cotton underwear. I knew there was a Rangeman logo on the ass of each and that's why I never took them home. Joe would have gone ballistic.

Unfortunately the only bra I had was the one I was wearing. It would have to do for another day.

I was still standing in his closet contemplating I don't know what, when Ranger came up behind me and put his arms around me.

"Deep thoughts Babe?"

"Just thinking. I saw the underwear and I knew why they were still here. Joe would have had a shit fit. I don't want to keep thinking about Joe, but he just keeps popping into my head."

"Maybe I can change those thoughts Babe." And he turned me around, brought a few fingers to my chin and he kissed me.

Oh yeah, he could change those thoughts all right.

But before it went any further Ranger's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the display. "It's your home phone Babe."

"The only people with keys are Joe and Dillon and Dillon wouldn't know to call _your_ cell." I said referring to Dillon Rudnick, the buildings' super.

"Yo," he answered as if on cue.

"Yes Morelli, Stephanie is here with me. But I don't think she wants to talk to you."

I was shaking my head no. I did NOT want to talk to him and how dare he let himself into my apartment.

"I'll ask her."

"Steph, Joe wants to know if he can have a few words with you?" I kept shaking my head no. And what the fuck was that? He drops Terri off after the movie and comes to my place to see if I'm around. Fuck that shit.

"No. I can't talk to him. And please ask him to leave."

"Yes, that's what she said, she wants you to leave."

"No Morelli, I'm not like you," I heard him say before he ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Ranger? What was that? You're not like him how?"

"He wanted to know if I was taking advantage of you in your weakened state."

"That son of a bitch." And I started to cry. Bad enough he hurt me with his actions, now he had to hurt me with his words.

"Ranger, you've been nothing but a perfect gentleman, how could he?"

"Shh, Babe. It's ok." And he just held me.

Then _my_ cell phone went off. If it was Joe I was going to be really angry. I went over to my bag and looked at the display. It was my parents' number.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie where are you?" my mother asked. "Joe just called here from your apartment looking for you."

"I'm with Ranger. We had a date today." I smiled at Ranger as I said it, and waited for the shit storm that would probably begin at the other end of the phone.

"I don't understand, I thought you were going to put a little pressure on Joe to get engaged?"

"That was your idea mom, not mine. There's no nice way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. Joe's been going out with Terri for a while now and then calling me as if nothing were different. He takes her out, but I get asked to walk his dog if he has to work late. NO. I've had it. No more. It's _over_."

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. He wouldn't do that. He's calling everyone he knows looking for you."

I hate telling my mother anything because it all becomes gossip, but she needed to know. "Mom, I saw them. Ranger took me to the movies in Hamilton Township tonight and they showed up hand-in-hand for the same movie."

"You must have been mistaken. He's at your apartment."

"I wasn't mistaken. Ranger saw them too. They didn't see us and we left before the movie began. I'm sure he just dropped her off and then went looking for me. He's playing some kind of game and I don't want to be a part of it. If you must know, I'm staying at Ranger's tonight."

"Do you know what you're doing Stephanie?"

"I just know that I don't want to go back to my apartment and chance Joe coming in while I'm sleeping." Then I shuddered at the thought. "I'm going to ask Ranger to help me change my locks tomorrow. Anyway if you need me just call my cell."

And my mother and I hung up.

"We can change them now Babe. Ram and Cal are on patrol near your apartment. They can go in and change the locks and if Joe's still there, I'm sure they'll show him to the door."

"Ranger, would they do that for me?"

"Of course they would Babe. I just need to call them."

I nodded my approval and Ranger placed a call. While he was on with them I thought about his earlier offer. "Could they bring Rex back here too?"

He heard me and mentioned it to whoever he was talking to and I guessed it was settled. Rex was coming to Rangeman.

"Ranger I should let Dillon know that Cal and Ram are stopping by. It's after ten, my neighbor's might call the police if they hear noises."

"I'll have Ram go to Dillon's apartment first to get the extra key. Of course they can get in without it, but it's better for appearances."

I called Dillon and Ranger called Ram and I guessed everything was settled. I'd have new locks in an hour or so. I just hoped Joe wasn't camped out on my couch when they got there; it wouldn't be pretty.

"Babe, I'm sorry you had you go through this," Ranger said taking my hand once I sat myself down at his breakfast bar to wait out the next hour. "I was hoping to make you forget by sharing a nice day with you.

"You did Ranger. I had a wonderful time with you today. _I'm_ sorry that I seem to have baggage following me around."

"We all do Babe." And he paused to let that sink in. "Unfortunately I have to go to Rangeman Miami for a couple of days. I hate the idea of leaving you alone when you have a stalker, even though this is a stalker we both know. Would you like to get away for a few days? We can be back by the weekend."

"What do you have to do down in Miami?"

"We're growing like crazy and I have to interview some men for a couple of new positions. Enrique has done preliminary interviews and I have video of the prospects, but I need to meet them in person, see who will be the best fit and hire two of them. I'd love your help. Your people instincts are better than mine."

"Will we be able to get to the beach at all?"

"I'll make sure of it. And I'll take you out to dinner too. Think of it as a paid vacation."

"You're going to pay me?"

"Yeah Babe, I believe in paying the people who work for me and you'll be working."

"When do we need to leave?"

"I was planning on taking an 8 am flight tomorrow, but if you need more time to get your affairs in order, I can wait. We'd have a corporate plane picking us up, so the exact time isn't important."

"I'll have to get back into my apartment to pack. Joe may still be there," I said nervously. And I did not want to see what would happen if he was still at my place when the guys got there.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Then don't worry. I'll have everything you need ready before we leave. Let's just get a good night's sleep."

I don't know how he did it, or when he did it, but there was my suitcase all packed and waiting in the foyer when we got up. Of course we didn't get up right away. Ranger had set the alarm for 6. I'm sure he didn't need an alarm, but I did. When it rang he got out of bed to turn it off and then came back under the covers with me. He put his arms around me and started nibbling my neck. God what a great way to wake up.

"Babe, you need to get up."

I leaned back into him, not ready to give up his warm bed quite yet. Then I felt it. I knew a morning erection was a common occurrence in men, Joe had one often, but I wasn't quite ready to have sex with Ranger yet.

"I'm sorry Babe," he said, obviously knowing what I was thinking. "I have a beautiful woman in my bed and Mother Nature seems to think this is an appropriate response. I'll take a cold shower."

"Can you just hold me for a few more minutes? Um, you feel really good."

"I'm not sure that that's a good idea Babe. I told you I'd abide by your wishes, but I'm a man after all. Let's get up."

"Five more minutes Ranger."

"I'll get up and take care of this. You can sleep while I shower."

I wasn't sure what 'take care of this' meant, but if Ranger was giving me a few more minutes of sleep, I was taking it.

I guessed I fell back into my dream, but was awakened a little later by Ranger kissing my forehead.

"Babe you need to get up. It's 6:30 and Hal is meeting us in the garage at 7:30 to take us to the airport."

"Ok Ranger, but I have to pack."

"I already took care of it, just take your shower."

While I was showering I thought back on the events of the last couple of days. Ranger had been there for me. More than 'there for me' and I really appreciated it. And now we were going down to Florida. And then we were spending New Year's Eve together. I wished I knew what was going on in his head. Was this 'someday' or would I have to leave his bed eventually like he'd said to me before?

I didn't want to think too much on it, so I finished my shower, did my hair and makeup and got dressed. When I came out I saw breakfast on the table. Ranger got up to pour me a cup of coffee. He fixed it just the way I liked, milk and two sugars and he handed it to me.

"We have bagels and cream cheese and I allowed Ella to bring in a couple of Boston Cream donuts for you. Your choice."

"I'll have a donut, thank you. Um, Ranger is this really happening?"

"Is what happening Babe?"

"This. You know. You seem to want to be with me. Is this for real?"

"We can talk about some things on the flight down to Florida, but yeah Babe, this is for real."

I took one of the donuts and bit into it. It was perfect. The chocolate on the outside complimented the vanilla custard inside and the donut itself tasted like nothing I'd ever had before.

"Oh God," I moaned. "This is fabulous. Did Ella make them herself?"

"I don't know Babe, but she can make them everyday if they get that kind of a reaction from you."

"Everyday Ranger?"

"Eat your breakfast and we'll talk on the plane."

After we cleaned up it was 7:30 on the nose, so Ranger took both of our suitcases and wheeled them to the elevator while I said goodbye to Rex. Then I shut the door. He put his arms around me on the ride down and was still kissing the top of my head when the doors opened in the garage. Between the cameras in the elevator and Hal's first hand siting, we'd be the talk of Rangeman for the next couple of days. Not that we weren't already the talk of Rangeman, but we were usually 'caught' on camera. This time Ranger wasn't doing anything to hide us from anyone's view. And everyone probably knew I spent the night there last night anyway. But you know what? I really didn't care.

Hal took the bags from Ranger and put them into the back of the Cayenne. Guessed we were taking one of Ranger's cars to the airport. I opened the back door, expecting Ranger to get up front with Hal, but he surprised me by opening the other door and sitting next to me.

He was playing with my fingers on the short ride to Trenton Mercer and as we got closer he took my hand to his lips. I'm sure Hal saw it all through the rear view mirror. Public displays of affection were just not the norm for Ranger, so I was pretty sure he couldn't wait to tell Lester.

Hal drove us directly to our NetJets flight and the gangplank was down and awaiting our arrival. I'd never traveled corporate before, so this was a new experience for me.

"Good morning Mr. Manoso, Stephanie." our pilot greeted us as we walked up the gangplank and into the plane. How the hell did he know my name? "Perfect flying conditions today, we should be on the ground at Miami International at 10:23. Hope you enjoy your flight."

Once we were inside the flight attendant closed and locked the door. We buckled ourselves in, and the plane immediately taxied down the runway and took off. This was great. I could get very spoiled.

Once we were airborne Ranger undid his seat belt and got up. I was used to commercial flights where I stayed buckled in the entire time, but seeing that Ranger was up and walking around, I did the same.

He went over to his bag and pulled out an iPad. "Babe, I want to show you something. Here are videos of the five contenders for the two spots at Rangeman. I'd love your take before we meet them."

"Ranger, you said we were going to talk about us. Are you trying to stall?"

"No Babe. But I want you to look at these videos first. They are only a few minutes apiece and then we'll have the rest of the flight to talk about us."

I did as Ranger asked and looked at the interview videos of the five guys. They were just snippets that someone had pieced together and Ranger was right, they only took about five minutes apiece. But I was able to get a pretty good idea about each of their personalities. I like men numbers three and four the best.

"Ranger, my two favorites from these clips are three and four."

"Mine too Babe. Let's see if we still think that when we meet them in person. I asked Enrique to have them come in first. Jason Sanchez, number four, will be there at 11:30 and Antonio Karakostas, your number three, at 1:30."

"That's a long interview."

"No Babe, I thought we could grab some lunch after we met with Jason. Come here. I promised we'd talk."

I walked over to Ranger and he pulled me down next to him on the couch. He took my hand again and brought it to his lip, all the while looking into my eyes.

"I've said some pretty fucked up things to you over the years. And I knew they weren't true even as I said them, but I needed to keep some distance between us. I know you know something about my government missions where I go away for weeks, sometimes months, at a time."

I didn't say anything, but I nodded and let him continue.

"My contract is over as of the first of January. That makes me a free man, and it also means I'm not dead."

"Don't say those things Ranger," I said shuddering.

"Any of my missions could have gone FUBAR and I didn't want to let you into my life any more than I had until I knew this whole thing was over. The moment I met you at the diner, I knew I had to get to know you better. Most women are intimidated by me, but you weren't. You walked right up to me and started talking. Although I didn't think you'd make it as a bounty hunter, I took you under my wing and we grew closer than I ever intended. And you surprised me. Not only did you get your man most of the time, you have a real knack for finding out just how to get him."

"So what are you saying Ranger? I suck as a bounty hunter but I made you laugh?"

"Babe…I'm saying that I want you in my life."

"I'm in your life Ranger."

"More."

Ok this was a first. Ranger was letting me in.

"You know there are things I can't tell you about my past, mostly about my missions, but as far as anything else goes I don't want there to be any secrets."

Suddenly my cell phone went off. I would have ignored it, but no one knew I was on my way to Florida, and it might be important.

"Ranger, I need to get that."

He nodded and looked a little relieved, even though I'd broken the moment. It probably gave him time to think."

"Ranger it's Dillon?" I said looking at the display.

"Answer it."

"Dillon?"

"Hey Steph, I didn't want to call you but Joe was just here. He was demanding I let him into your apartment. I told him that Rangeman changed the locks last night and that I didn't have a key, which isn't true. I know you're not home, but in case you were on your way, I just thought you should know that he's camped out at your front door."

Shit. "Thanks Dillon. I'm um, on my way to Florida with Ranger…on a job. I'll call Joe. Thanks for letting me know."

"You bet."


	4. Chapter 4—Dancing the Night Away

_It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year_

**Happy New Year!** Thank you for all the wonderful reviews on this story. Wow, I never expected so many. Thank you. I was planning on this being a simple three chapter story, but the story took on a life of it's own, and it seemed to want to go on. There is one more chapter after this :)

And thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go. :)

**Chapter 4 — Dancing the Night Away**

"Ranger?" I asked. I'd spoken to Dillon with my phone on speaker so Ranger knew what was going on.

"I don't know what kind of shit he's trying to pull. I guess you should call him."

"I really don't want to talk to him."

"Do you want me to call him?"

"Would you?"

"Give me your phone, he'll take the call if he thinks it's you."

"He's in my speed dial under Joe," I said, handing my phone over to Ranger.

"Babe we _have_ to get you a new phone," Ranger said, thumbing through my eight-year-old Razr flip phone, "I don't know how you still use this thing."

"I'm used to it," I mumbled, knowing I couldn't afford a new phone or a data plan right now.

"Ok, it's ringing," Ranger said after punching in Joe's number.

"Morelli. Manoso." "Yes, Stephanie is with me," he said before switching my phone to speaker.

"Where are you? I've been waiting for her since 9 am."

"I'm sorry Morelli, but she doesn't want to see you or talk to you right now. A couple of my men are on their way over to her apartment. I hope you won't be there when they arrive."

"Where is she?" he asked again.

"Right now we're on an airplane. Please honor her wishes and leave her alone. She'll call you when the time is right." And he hung up.

"Let me put a call into Rangeman. I want to get someone over to your apartment asap," he said grimacing at my phone as his fingers punched at the too small digits.

"Manny? No this isn't Stephanie, it's Ranger. Can you send someone over to her apartment? Morelli seems to be camped out at her front door. If he's still there, you know what to do. Thanks."

Ranger hung up with Manny just as the pilot came on over the loudspeaker. "We'll be landing at Miami International in just a few minutes. Please take your seats and buckle up for the approach. Hope you enjoyed your flight."

Again I was used to commercial flights where we circled the airport for a good ten minutes before we landed. It seemed like we went straight in. We were literally on the ground just a few minutes after our pilot's announcement.

The flight attendant opened the door, let down the gangplank and we were free to disembark. Ranger grabbed both bags and we headed down the stairs. There was a brand new, black shiny SUV right on the tarmac. I'd bet anything it was a Rangeman car coming to pick us up.

Ranger walked right over to it and as we got close, I saw it was Silvio. I hadn't seen Silvio since he spent a day teaching me how to run searches. I was so excited to see him.

"Silvio," I said, running up to the driver's window and motioning him to open it. I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you?"

"I'm good Steph. Get in; we can talk on the ride to Rangeman. Enrique told me I'd be picking up both you and Ranger. Business or pleasure?"

I got into the back seat while Ranger put the suitcases into the rear cargo space.

"It's a little of both. Ranger asked me to help him interview for your two open positions, but he also said we'd have some time for the beach."

"Are you two a couple?" he asked, not quite sure of our status.

"I don't know Silvio. This is as new to me as it is to you."

Ranger got into the car and settled in, closing the door and buckling his seat belt. Obviously he heard the last part of my conversation with Silvio. But instead of answering with words, he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips. A gesture not unnoticed by Silvio.

"We can continue our conversation over lunch Babe. I know a great place to take you."

I guessed we were having another date.

The ride from the airport to Rangeman Miami didn't take very long. The structure appeared to be a five-story office building, but the building itself seemed larger than the offices in Trenton. Silvio fobbed us into an underground garage and parked adjacent to the elevator.

"Ranger can show you around," he said, taking our bags from the cargo area, "I have quite a number of searches that I have to finish up today. Stop by my desk later if you want to chat or help me out," he grinned.

"Ok. I'll find you later," I said when he got off at three. We stayed on the elevator to the fifth floor. I assumed Ranger had a penthouse here similar to the one in Trenton.

He fobbed the door open for me and wheeled in our bags. "Welcome to Miami Babe."

The space was much more open than his apartment on Haywood, and we could see out to the ocean in the distance from his living room.

"Let me show you around."

I got the grand tour. Beyond the foyer there was a living room, dining room and a powder room. He also had an office, a nice-sized kitchen and a huge master suite with a Jacuzzi as well as a shower in the bathroom.

"I see you staring at the Jacuzzi Babe. Feel free to use it later. Jason Sanchez will be in for his interview at 11:30 and I wanted to show you around the building before he gets here."

It was similar to Rangeman Trenton in that it had a reception area, a control room with the expected monitors, offices for Ranger and his right hand men and cubbies for everyone else. There was also a break room/lunch area, a gym and a gun range.

"I can set you up in my office Babe," he said leading me to an office I hadn't been shown before. It was a huge corner space and although I couldn't see the ocean from this vantage point, I knew it looked out towards the water.

"Nice office Ranger. Are you sure you want me in on the interviews?"

"Yes," he said strongly and unquestioningly. "I value your judgment. I'll get you a chair from one of the spare rooms and you can use my desk for your laptop."

We were all set up when a female voice announced Mr. Sanchez' arrival over the intercom.

"Send him in," Ranger said, meeting my gaze.

He took two steps towards me, titled my chin up to him and kissed my lips. "Thank you for coming with me Babe." He was about to kiss me again, when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in Monica," he said instead and we both sat down just a little awkwardly.

"Mr. Manoso, this is Jason Sanchez."

"Monica Rivera, Jason Sanchez, this is Stephanie Plum," Ranger introduced, standing up formally. "Stephanie is my associate from our Trenton office. Come in Jason."

The interview was quick as far as interviews go. I liked him a lot and I thought he'd make a good fit into the Rangeman organization. I took some notes while they talked, which I'd show Ranger over lunch. After all, I was supposed to be working.

After Jason left, Ranger took my hand to his lips. "Let's get some food, I heard the beast while we were talking to Jason," he said referring to my noisy stomach.

I was about to close up my laptop and bring it along, but Ranger stopped me. "Leave it Babe, this isn't a business lunch."

Uh ok. So I left it and followed Ranger. We stopped at the front desk on our way out and Ranger grabbed a set of keys. We went down to the garage and Ranger fobbed open a Mercedes sports car. He started it up, opened the convertible top and we took off for lunch.

"Tony Chan's Water Club Babe. The food is Chinese and the view is impressive," Ranger said as we parked just a stone's throw away from the Atlantic. "They know we're coming, so we'll be served right away. We have about an hour."

"Mr. Manoso's table, please," Ranger said to the waitress who greeted us.

"You come here often?" I asked, quite impressed by the familiarity.

"Not as often as I'd like, but I come here at least once whenever I'm in Miami. Julie likes this place."

If it got a thumbs up from Julie, it must be good.

"I recommend the chicken with black bean sauce, their variation is not overly salty. And Julie likes the cashew shrimp," Ranger said in the way of recommendations.

"Then let's get one of each and we can share."

Our waiter came over right away with tea and menus, but we ordered without even opening the menus he gave us.

"Babe," Ranger said taking my hand in his, "I want to continue our conversation from this morning."

I nodded and let him take the lead.

"To you this may be sudden, but to me it's not. I'm just happy that Morelli's stupid actions are making this easier. This time I was prepared for a fight to the finish. Stephanie, I care about you a lot," he said again, taking my hand in his and kissing it one more time. "I'd like to take you places and show you things."

"Like dating, Ranger?"

"Yes, like dating Babe."

"So that you can drop me when you've had enough of me? You've said so before."

"I've said a lot of stupid things to you before. No, if I had my way, I'd never let you go, but I like to think that in a relationship both parties have choices."

"A relationship? You want to have a relationship with me?"

"Yeah Babe."

He looked so angelic. I didn't know what to do, so I removed my hand from under his and brought it on top for one more question.

"Is there sex in this relationship Ranger?"

"Well Babe, that's usually part of a relationship, but I know that right now you feel used by Morelli, so we can take things slow."

I didn't know what to say, it was as if he was reading my mind.

Thankfully our food arrived at that moment and we both were able to concentrate on eating, leaving a lot of the unsaid things for later.

"We have to go back to Rangeman for Antonio's interview," Ranger said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "He'll be there at 1:30. After we meet with him we can go to the beach. The ocean is a very healing. I'm hoping it will wash Morelli away."

"I'm sorry Ranger."

"Sorry for what?"

"For putting so much trust in Joe. You'd told so me many times to go back to him; I thought you saw something I didn't." And I started to cry. I don't know why the tears fell, but they did.

"Babe," he said wiping my tears with his fingers. "Dios I love you," he said softly.

"Love Ranger, did you say love?"

"We have to get back, we can talk about things later," he said leaving me with the 'love' prospect dangling over my head.

Ranger paid the bill and once again left an exorbitant tip. We drove back to Rangeman with the top down and the warm beach air filled my head with hopes.

Our interview with Antonio went well if not better than our interview with Jason and by my notes, he was someone I thought Ranger should hire.

"Beach Babe?" Ranger asked once Antonio left the building.

"I hope you packed me a bathing suit? I have no idea what's in that suitcase."

"I packed you two, but I'd like to buy you another one. I saw a blue patterned one in the window of a store on Bayshore Drive. It would look fabulous on you."

"One piece or two?" I asked wanting to know how Ranger saw me."

"Bikini."

We went upstairs to change and I was surprised when I opened the suitcase Ranger had packed for me. All my favorite summer outfits were in there, how did he know? I didn't question, but put on a modest bikini, a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and came out to see what Ranger wears to the beach.

He had on a pair of black and grey board shorts that sat low on his hips, and he looked hot. I just hoped I wasn't drooling.

"Let's go; you can ogle me later," he grinned and I knew my cover was blown.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

"Your skin is so fair," Ranger commented when I removed my shorts and top. "There's sunscreen in the bag, I'd hate for you to get burned."

I reached into the bag he'd brought and found the SPF 50. I put it on my face, my arms, my legs and my shoulders and was about to drop the tube onto the towel because I couldn't reach my back and didn't want to look stupid trying.

"Your back Babe. I'll get it for you," he said taking the sunscreen from me and turning me around to apply it.

He had lifted up my hair and was spending an awful lot of time putting the sunscreen in all the right places, sensually brushing the sides of my breasts and running his hand under the elastic of my bikini bottom. God he was getting me turned on.

"Ranger, you're getting me all hot and bothered."

"Then let's go into the ocean and cool you off," he said.

He picked me up and carried me over to the shoreline, kissing me once on the lips before putting me down into the water.

"It's cold," I said when the splash from a wave hit my upper body.

"I can see Babe," he said running a finger lightly over one of my rigid nipples. Thank God there were only a handful of people on the beach and no one was paying any attention to us.

We played around in the water for a quite a while, swimming, jumping waves and having fun. Ranger was right, the ocean was healing; but so was Ranger.

"Babe, we should get out, you're turning into a prune," he said taking my hand and looking at my fingers. "And it's getting late, you'll probably want to shower before we go out for dinner. And I have a present for you that should have arrived by now."

"A present for me? What did you get me Ranger?"

"You'll see."

We packed up the few things we brought with us and loaded them into the car. Ranger opened the convertible top again to let the late afternoon sun warm our bodies and I felt like a movie star as we drove back to his office. A girl could get used to this.

Ranger fobbed us in and we took the elevator to his penthouse on five. He opened the door and there were a few packages in the foyer. He looked into the bags before handing them to me.

"I asked for them to be wrapped, but it looks like only one place followed my wishes. Here Babe, these are for you."

"Ranger what did you get me?" I asked taking the gifts from him.

"Open them Babe."

The first one I opened was from Apple and I could immediately see what it was, an iPhone and an iPad."

"Ranger thank you, but I can't afford the data plan on these," I said truthfully.

"The data plan goes on our Rangeman account. These are business necessities and if you're going to be working for me, you need to upgrade your equipment. Happy New Year, Babe."

"Thank you Ranger," I said and turned to give him a small kiss on the lips.

"You initiated that Babe, maybe I should give you presents all the time," he joked, after we broke from the kiss that he took a little further. "Open your other present."

This one was wrapped and I had no idea what it was or where it came from until I undid the paper and opened the box. It was a blue-grey Nicole Miller dress. It was beautiful. It was fitted, yet elegant, hitting probably just above the knee.

"Ranger this is beautiful. I can't accept this from you, you just bought me two dresses for New Year's."

"This is for tonight. I couldn't find anything appropriate in your closet. There's one more present in there."

I looked at him quizzically because if there was one more present in the bag, it had to be small. I looked inside the bag again and there was a small wrapped box. I held it in my hand and looked up at Ranger.

"Open it Babe."

"Earrings Ranger. They're beautiful," I said putting them down and putting my arms around him to give him another kiss.

"They'll go really nicely with the dress. Let me put them on you," and he reached for my ear to undo the Tiffany GPS-tracker that was currently there.

"Babe, you wore these in the ocean?"

I nodded my head yes.

"You probably short-circuited the GPS. Well you didn't like me monitoring you anyway. Let me put these on you," he said sensually touching my ear and sending shivers down my spine.

"Cold Babe?"

"No, goosebumps. God Ranger, you know just what you're doing to me, don't you." I said as a statement, not a question.

"I'm putting earrings on you," he said and his lips grazed mine.

That was it. So much for not wanting to sleep with Ranger yet. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him back. I was an adult. I could make my own adult decisions and I just decided that having sex with Ranger was something I wanted to do after all. And I wanted to do it now.

I took his hand and I led him to the couch since it was the closest reclining piece of furniture to where we were standing.

"Babe?"

"Um, don't talk Ranger," I said deepening the kiss and giving him a little tongue.

Ranger rolled me over and looked at me softly before continuing. "Are you sure you're ready Babe?"

"Um hmm."

And then my T-shirt was gone…and so was my bathing suit top.

Ranger was placing soft kisses up and down my body as his hands cupped my breasts, then rolled my nipples. Oh God he made me feel so good. He took one of my breasts into his mouth and paid a lot of attention to it rolling his tongue over my nipple and sucking gently. Then he moved on to the other one and suddenly bit my nipple. It hurt, but in a good way. He kissed his way down my body and he let his mouth linger at the top of my bikini bottom. He was making me crazy and I wanted him so badly.

"Ranger, I need you."

"In good time Babe. Let me enjoy you first," and then my bikini bottom was off and Ranger was feasting on my lady parts.

"You are so wet Babe, I have to taste you."

God. I was going to lose it.

"Ranger now."

"Come for me first, Babe," he said, tonguing me deeply and doing something to the area between my vagina and my ass. Whatever it was, it made me come.

"Oh God Ranger," I yelled, shuddering into an orgasm.

And then his clothes were off and somehow a condom appeared.

"It's ok Ranger, I'm on the pill."

"Let's use this anyway," he said putting it on and sliding into me.

Oh God, we fucked for what seemed like hours. I came I don't know how many times and Ranger either had the stamina of a racehorse or he was multi-orgasmic. Finally I felt him tighten up and shudder into me. We fell into each other's arms, sweaty and spent.

"I love you Babe," Ranger said to me softly when he was able to speak again.

"I love you too Ranger. God I've loved you for so long."

"I know Babe. Shhh."

I think we both fell asleep and I probably would have stayed asleep if Ranger hadn't kissed me awake by nuzzling my neck.

"We have to get up Babe. We have a nine o'clock reservation. I think you're going to want to shower and get ready."

"Where are we going?"

"We're dining Cuban style and then I'm taking you dancing."

"Fancy?"

"Yeah Babe, wear the new dress I got you."

"I don't think I have shoes to go with it?" I said, suddenly panicking.

"I packed the Jimmy Choos you just bought, they're in that inside compartment of your suitcase."

I could never imagine Joe thinking to pack shoes for me. Wait a minute; I could never imagine Joe packing for me. God, Ranger was special.

I came out of the bathroom to find GQ Ranger. He had on a perfectly fitted dark grey cotton suit with a lighter grey dress shirt underneath it and he was standing at the full-length mirror, tying a black tie. His hair was slightly messy and I noticed he hadn't shaved. He looked hot.

"You look beautify, Babe," he said taking me in through the mirror.

"You look pretty good yourself. I was just admiring the view."

"From your vantage point all you can see is my ass?"

"Like I said, I was admiring the view."

Breaking my concentration on one of the more important things in life, my cell phone started ringing. I reached for my bag and saw from the display that it was Dillon.

"I'm sorry to call you again, but Joe's here and he's looking for you. I told him you were away on business, but he said he'd wait for you. I wasn't sure if I should call Rangeman or if _you_ would take care of it. I think he's drunk."

"Hold on Dillon. Ranger? Joe is back at my apartment and Dillon says he's drunk. He wants to know if he should call Rangeman?"

"Yes. We patrol your building. I'll call Tank too."


	5. Chapter 5—Broken Pieces of Yesterday

_It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year_

A/N Thank you for all the wonderful reviews on this story. I was planning on this being a simple three chapter story, but the story took on a life of it's own, and it seems to want to go on. A few readers pointed out ways to extend this story and I can certainly do that if you think it would be worth it. So, PM me back, review or just let me know if you think this should go on.

I don't own the characters JE does, just trying to extend their life.

And thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go :)

M Rating—mostly for language.

**Chapter 5—Broken Pieces of Yesterday's Life**

I had just hung up with Dillon when my phone rang again. I looked at the display and was surprised to see that once again it was Dillon. I guessed he forgot to tell me something.

"You need to hear this," he said in lieu of hello. I could hear Morelli's voice in the background.

"I know you're in there," bang, bang bang. It was as if someone were banging on the door as if their life depended upon it. "Open up," bang, bang, bang.

Suddenly there was the sound of a gunshot and I heard a door or something heavy being kicked open. I could only imagine that he'd shot out my lock and was letting himself in.

"Stephanie! Where the fuck are you?"

I could hear doors slamming and finally the sound of a heavier door that was slammed shut, only to bounce open again.

Then I heard Tank's voice. "Morelli."

"Get the fuck out of my way," Joe's voice said in response.

"Morelli. Stop. Look at me. What the fuck is going on with you?"

"Out of my way Tank or I'll shoot you."

"Morelli you're an officer of the law. If I report your actions, you'll lose your badge. Now turn around and look at me."

Holy shit.

"Let's go for a little walk Morelli."

I guessed Tank got him to cooperate…somehow.

Then I heard Lester's voice. "You can close your doors and go back inside; everything's under control. Sorry about the disturbance."

I could only assume that the yelling and banging had just started or Dillon would have said something to me earlier.

"Dillon, are you still there? What's going on?"

"Hi Steph, did you get most of that? The Rangeman guys, I'm pretty sure that was Tank and Lester, just took Joe outside. I think it's a good thing none of your neighbors called the police and that Rangeman showed up when they did."

"Ranger called them while we were on the phone earlier. I'm sorry Joe made such a disturbance. They didn't hurt him, did they?"

"No, but Lester cuffed him. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's going on?"

"I wish I knew," I said, not wanting to go into the details of my personal life on the phone. "We'll catch up when I get back, ok? And thank you."

"Ok Steph. No prob."

"Ranger? You don't think Tank's going to hurt him, do you?" I asked after I hung up.

"No, but he may take him out, sober him up and try to talk to him. I'll call Tank before we leave."

"This is all my fault Ranger," I said then started to cry.

"This is not your fault," he said, holding me close and kissing the top of my head. "He was the one cheating on you and now it seems that he can't accept the consequences. I'll send someone over there to fix your lock and bring Dillon a six-pack," Ranger said, knowing what I usually did to keep in Dillon's good graces. "We should leave for the restaurant in about ten minutes. Will you be ok?"

"I'm ok. I just want to fix my makeup. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about Babe."

We took to Mercedes to South Beach and once we found the place, Ranger handed over the keys to valet parking.

"I want to try Tank again," he said, putting an arm around me as we walked towards the front door of the restaurant. He had tried to call before we left, but the call went straight to voicemail. "This is a nice place so it would be rude to use my phone inside, and we're still a few minutes early,"

"That's ok Ranger, I want to hear what Tank has to say too."

"I'll relay the call to you. No need for all of Miami to hear Tank's booming voice," he said to me as he dialed.

"Yo. What happened with Morelli?" There was a long pause. Obviously Tank had more to say than usual. Ranger hung up, his bad phone manners coming into play again, and he turned to me.

"Morelli told Tank that you weren't returning his calls and that he 'heard' you inside your apartment so he decided to take action. Tank ordered him to leave you alone and told him you'd be in touch with him when or _if _you wanted to talk to him. He seemed to agree and they drove him home. Santos is returning to your lot to bring Joe's car back to his house."

"Was he really drunk? Joe doesn't usually have more than a couple of beers."

"Tank said you could smell him a mile away. Hopefully he'll make it into work tomorrow. Let's go inside Babe."

This was one of those restaurants where there are no prices on the menu, but obviously Ranger knew that beforehand. _And_ the entire menu was in Spanish. He translated all the entrees for me and we finally settled on some sea bass thing, which was supposed to be for two. He also ordered a bottle of wine and some kind of appetizers. Like I said, I couldn't read the menu, so I had to trust he was ordering me something I would like.

"Babe the food is good here. I wouldn't steer you wrong," he said, reading my mind and taking my hand in his to reassure me.

I didn't want to talk about Morelli or what just happened, so I thought I'd ask about New Year's Eve, which was just a couple of days away and Ranger had not yet told me where we were going.

"It's a surprise Babe, but if you wear the champagne-colored dress we just got you, you'll be fine.''

"You're not taking me to Times Square are you?" I asked not necessarily wanting to be with all those people.

"No Babe. We'll go somewhere closer to home this year."

"Is it a restaurant Ranger?"

"You're asking an awful lot of questions. I told you, it's a surprise and I'm pretty sure it'll make you very happy."

Well I wasn't getting the answers I was looking for, so I dropped my inquisition, sipped my wine and took one of the appetizers that had just arrived.

"These are really good, Ranger," I said moaning slightly at the plantain-wrapped crab cake that was unlike anything I had ever had.

Ranger was attentive; and dinner was really good, but underneath it all I kept thinking about Joe. I didn't understand his actions and if I had to really think about it, they scared me. I was glad I wasn't home when he shot out my lock. God.

"Babe do you still want to go out dancing or would you rather go home?" Ranger asked sensing my changing mood.

"No, let's go dancing. You'll teach me, right?" I asked, not really knowing a salsa from a merengue.

"You're a good dancer, you'll pick it up right away."

"You've seen me dance?"

"I watched you dancing with Lester at one of the Rangeman parties at Shorty's. I had to hold myself back from shooting him in the knee."

"So why didn't you break in?"

"If I had touched you, anything could have happened. And it was during one of your on-again phases with Morelli."

That answered everything.

I didn't see Ranger pay a bill so I assumed like the no-price thing, it was somehow all taken care of. And when we went outside, the valet had our car waiting. It was a little creepy if you asked me.

We drove maybe fifteen minutes to another part of Miami and you could feel the music in the air. It was loud and happy and festive, exactly what I needed. Ranger took my hand as we entered the members-only club. I didn't really want anything more to drink; I wanted to dance; so I pulled Ranger onto the dance floor.

I picked up on that 'quick, quick, slow' beat of the Latino music and Ranger smiled at my faux steps.

"You have it Babe, come here."

He bent me over his leg and looked at me longingly. God he was hot.

"Ranger I think I'll need to take you home soon," I said honestly.

"Babe?"

"I don't think you know what you do to women, but you have me so freakin' turned on. God, you are just one amazing piece of man."

"Well before I became a bad ass, women used to follow me around and scream out 'Ricky Martin,' but I hope you don't see me that way?"

Yeah, I kind of did. But after his little outburst, I was keeping that quiet.

We spent the next couple of hours dancing and I was as happy as I could get considering the circumstances.

We left the club around one and I wondered how I'd be able to get up in the morning for those 10, 11 and noon interviews. Maybe Ranger would forgive me if I opted out?

"Babe?"

"Did I say that out loud?"

"It's ok, you can sleep in if you need to. We both seem to agree on Jason and Antonio, the other three men were just backups."

_I'd_ hate to be seen as a back up. Maybe they'd have more to offer in a face-to-face interview.

"That's not fair to them. I'll get up and be there with you tomorrow. I promise."

And I did. I trudged my body out of bed at eight. Ranger was nowhere to be seen. I guessed dancing wasn't enough exercise for him; he was probably at the gym. I took a shower did the hair and makeup thing as best I could and went out to the kitchen to see if I could find something for breakfast.

There was fresh coffee in the coffee machine and a note in Ranger's very vertical style of printing. "There's breakfast down on three. Come down. I'll be in my office. -R."

I was hoping for something more personal, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't write anything personal in case someone else found the note in the trash later. I grabbed my bag and closed up. I didn't have a key, but I knew Ranger did if I needed to get back in.

I didn't really remember where the break room was, or where his office was for that matter, but I went left off the elevator as that seemed to be where my instincts told me to go.

I saw Monica sitting at her desk, so I finger-waved hello and went over to ask her if I was heading in the right direction.

"Good morning Stephanie. I hope you had a nice time last night."

How did she know we went out? Did she made the reservations? Probably.

"We did. Thank you. I seem to be lost though. Break room? And then Ranger's office?"

She smiled at me knowingly, I was glad I wasn't the only one who got lost.

"Break room is straight down this hall and then just follow the windowed offices around to the left to get to Ranger's office."

"Thank you."

I found the break room first and grabbed a muffin. I saw a toaster oven on the counter, so I cut my muffin in half and toasted it up. I looked in the refrigerator and found butter and strawberry preserves so when my muffin was nice and golden I took it out and loaded it up with butter and jelly. Yum. Just what I needed to start my day since there were no donuts around.

I took a big bite before heading out to find Ranger.

I weaved around to the left, followed Monica's instructions and found Ranger's office. He was sitting behind his desk and looked up when I knocked.

"Babe, come in," he 200-watted me. He got up and closed the door. He took my plate from me and put it down on his desk. "Come here Babe," he said, pulling me to him and thoroughly kissing me. Yep, there was tongue involved…and oh God can he kiss.

"I see you found my note," he said when we broke apart. "Come, sit with me, I want to show you something," he said, sitting down and pulling me onto his lap.

"These are Tank's notes from last night. He's recommending you get a restraining order against Morelli."

I looked down at the printout that Ranger was referring to. Dates, times etc. were all documented and in an area reserved for additional notes, Tank had indeed suggested my getting a restraining order.

"I don't think that's necessary Ranger, Joe would never hurt me. He was just upset and had too much to drink. And he thought he heard me inside."

"That's not a reason to shoot out a lock Babe. I think Tank may have a good idea here."

"As much as I'm furious with him, I just can't do that. It would end up on his personal record and probably hurt his chances for promotion."

"Then we'll just up the patrol around your apartment. His actions were not exactly appropriate."

Ranger had his arms around me and was nuzzling my neck while he made his executive decision. God he made me feel good. If I didn't know we were going to have a visitor in about ten minutes, I might have attacked him.

"Do you want to head back to Trenton after the interviews or do you want to stay here another night and go back tomorrow? If you want, we can go to the beach again.

I had nothing to do in Trenton. Vinnie was closed until January second and I could run any searches Ranger needed me to run from here.

"Do you need to get back?" I asked, kind of hoping he didn't.

"I can do anything I'd need to do in Trenton from here, so it's your decision."

"Ok, then let's stay. I can help Silvio this afternoon. I don't want to eat up all your time by taking you to the beach."

"If you were eating up my time, I'd let you know and Silvio can call in a contract worker if he's got too much on his plate. We can go to the beach this afternoon, but I want you all to myself after dinner tonight."

God. It sounded like I was getting the long end of the stick in more ways than one, but who was I to complain?

"Ok Ranger, it's a deal."

Then his intercom buzzed and Monica informed us that interviewee number one had arrived.

We had back-to-back interviews and by 1:00 not only was I starving, but I was also bleary-eyed. And I knew for a fact we had made the right decisions about the guys from yesterday.

"And the answer is…ding, ding, ding…Jason and Antonio," I said as soon as interviewee number three left.

"Are you sure Babe?" he asked, putting on his blank face. "You were the one who wanted to give these last three the benefit of the doubt."

"Ranger, you were just sitting here with me, what did you think?"

"I think you're right," he said, letting out a mini-smile, "We'll get the paperwork in order to hire Jason and Antonio, now let's get some lunch and go to the beach."

We were sitting outside at the burger/salad place. I was enjoying my burger and you got it, Ranger was enjoying his salad. Now let me ask you this…how can you _enjoy _salad? Anyway he seemed to be in salad heaven when his phone rang.

"Yo," he said looking at the display. Must be Tank. "We were planning on coming back tomorrow morning, but we can get a NetJets flight out of here in probably an hour."

He looked up at me and mouthed "Tank." I nodded, but then I already knew that.

"Ok, I'll call you back in ten." And he hung up.

"Babe, one of our oldest accounts, Roebling Jewelers, was just robbed in broad daylight. Two masked gunmen came into the store and cleaned them out during normal business hours. Since the connection with the company was through me, Tank thought I should be the one to go over there and talk to him. None of our equipment was faulty but we did install the cameras and someone is going to have to go through the tapes."

"Isn't that Hector's department?" I asked, not because I wanted to stay if we were needed in Trenton, but because I had always assumed Hector was in charge of anything technical.

"Technically it is, but the owner, Jared Pauling, is a friend. Babe, feel like visiting a jewelry store?"

"Sure. Let's go pack."

Well there went my afternoon at the beach. Wondered if I'd still get Ranger all to myself after dinner, probably not.

We got the check and hi-tailed it back to Rangeman. I guessed news traveled fast because Monica had already called a car service to take us to Miami International and it was waiting at the front door when we got there.

It didn't take long to pack; I just needed to gather up all my paraphernalia and Ranger did the rest. We were ready to leave in ten minutes. I supposed Monica had also called NetJets as the plane was waiting for us on the tarmac when we got there. Things happen fast at Rangeman.

When we were buckled in and taxiing down the runway Ranger pulled me to him and kissed me.

"Thank you Babe."

"Ranger this is why you're a successful businessman…you care about your clients. We _have_ to get back. It's important."

"This is why I love you Babe," he said kissing me again and loosening our seatbelts so we could walk around the cabin. I didn't do too much walking though as it was nice and comfortable in Ranger's arms and he didn't seem to want to let me go.

We landed about two and a half hours later and Bobby and Lester were at the runway in a nice shiny, black Explorer to meet us and take us directly to Roebling.

"Ranger, there's going to be a lot of paperwork on this one," Lester began. "Tank is in overwhelm already and we haven't even gone over the cameras yet. After you visit Jared, I can take Stephanie home so that you and Tank can jump right in."

I guessed I was being dismissed after all.

"And Steph we have new keys for you…here," he continued handing me two sets of keys to my new locks.

It was a short ride into Trenton and Jared Pauling was waiting for us when we got to his jewelry store. He and Ranger did one of those man hug things and Ranger introduced me. Although his insurance company had already been notified, Jared handed Ranger a list of the items that were stolen just so he'd have it in case any of them appeared on the black market. Luckily his most expensive jewelry was in the safe at the time, but still there were quite a number of pieces taken that were worth a pretty penny. I felt bad for the guy.

We spent about forty-five minutes there and then Lester and Bobby drove us back to my apartment. Ranger did the run through while the guys stayed in the car and he gave me back my keys when he was sure there was no one lurking in corners.

"I'm sorry about tonight Babe. Maybe I'll see you later, but don't wait up, I can let myself in."

"It's ok Ranger. Do what you have to do. Tank hates paperwork." And then he kissed me goodbye and left.

Rex was at Rangeman, so it was just me. I made myself a peanut butter and olive sandwich and sat down in front of the television to go through the 845 channels to see if anything was on. I guessed I fell asleep from all the channel surfing and I woke up with a start when my front door opened. I didn't hear the locks tumble; did I forget to even lock it?

Oh well it was probably Ranger. Worst I'd get was a lecture.

"Cupcake?"

I got up with a jolt. "Joe, what are you doing here?"

"I had to see you," he said as he walked towards me.

He reached for my face and I turned away. I didn't want to kiss him or have anything to do with him.

"Joe you have to leave."

He grabbed my hair and lifted it up looking at my earrings in the process. "Did he give you these?" he asked.

"Joe, please, you have to go.''

"Did he give you these?" he asked again, reaching for my ear and ripping the earring out of it.

I put my hand to my ear and saw blood. "Joe you hurt me."

"And what do you think these do to me Cupcake," he said shaking the earring at me.

With that he got up and left and I sat down on the floor and started to cry.


	6. Chapter 6—New Year's Eve

_It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new year_

A/N Thank you for all the wonderful reviews on this story. I was planning on this being a simple three chapter story, but the story took on a life of it's own, and it seemed to want to go on. This is the last chapter, but it's along one.

I don't own the characters JE does; I'm just playing with them.

And thank you Margaret and Cindy for deeming this good to go :)

M Rating—mostly for language.

**Chapter 6—New Year's Eve**

I don't know how long I sat there. My tears had stopped but my ear was burning, so I finally got up to check it out. It wasn't a bad rip; I guessed the earring came out before too much damage had been done.

My cellphone rang while I was searching for the Neosporin with the numbing stuff in it and I grabbed for my bag to answer.

"Babe, where are you? Your car is in your parking lot but one of your GPS trackers is on Route 206."

"My earring. Joe took my earring."

"I'll be right over."

I sat down and started to cry all over again. This time it really was my fault. Why didn't I lock that door?

Well I guessed I didn't lock it _again_ because nothing tumbled when Ranger walked through it.

"Babe," he said taking me in his arms and holding me tight. Once I stopped crying he looked down at my ear. "I'm going to take you back to Rangeman. I want Bobby to look at this and then you can tell me what happened."

I nodded in agreement.

Ranger got my coat out of the closet and put it on me. He grabbed my bag and helped me out to the turbo that was parked right outside the back door.

"It was all my fault Ranger. I don't think I locked the door. I didn't hear any locks tumble, but I thought it was you coming in. Oh God, I took you from your work again, didn't I?"

"Shhh Babe, let's just get your ear looked at; we can talk about everything later."

I hoped he wasn't mad, he didn't sound mad. When Ranger was mad he got quiet.

It was late so there weren't too many cars on the road and we made it over to Haywood in record time. Ranger fobbed us through the gate. We parked at the elevator and took it up to Bobby's infirmary. I guessed Ranger called him from my apartment; I didn't remember a call, but Bobby was waiting for us.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened," Ranger told Bobby, "but her earlobe is ripped and Morelli seems to have the earring with him."

"Hal's been following its whereabouts on the monitor. It paid a visit to someone on Fernwood and now it's back at Morelli's house. Bomber, can I look at your ear?"

I nodded that I was ok with him touching it and Bobby put on a pair of latex gloves before looking closely at my right ear under the light.

"It's just a little tear Steph. It will probably heal on its own, but I can put a stitch in if you want."

"Can I still wear earrings? Ranger bought me a couple of pair and I'd really like to be able to wear them."

"I'm not an expert, but I think if you just leave this alone without any earrings for a couple of weeks it will heal."

"New Year's Eve is two days away?"

"I'm sorry but that's not enough time, you'll risk getting an infection. I would put bacitracin on it a couple of times a day for the next week or so too."

"Ok Bobby, thank you."

"Babe not wearing earrings for New Year's is not the end of the world."

Actually it almost was, but I wasn't going to make a big deal about it. I could go earringless for New Years.

"I'm sorry Ranger," I tried again, ''this really was my fault. I guess I didn't lock the door."

"Let's go upstairs Babe, we can talk about it in the morning," Ranger said to me, and then turned to Bobby. "Thanks for coming in to take a look at her ear."

"No problem. Steph take some of these," he said handing me little foil packets of bacitracin, "and put a little on a couple times a day. It'll heal faster and you probably won't scar."

We thanked Bobby again and I went upstairs with Ranger.

"Babe, I heard you lock the door when I left. Did you go out again?"

"No, just to throw out the garbage and then I…shit. I pushed that little thing on the side of the door so it stays open. Damn, I'm so stupid."

"It's not worth beating yourself up about, but I don't feel good about you going back there until I've had a little talk with Morelli. Please Babe, stay here for a couple of days, at least until after New Year's Eve."

"I'll agree as long as you promise you're not going to hurt him."

"He hurt you."

"He didn't mean to. The earrings you gave me set him off."

"He was playing a psychological game with you. He cheated. You called him on it and now instead of letting you be angry with him he's turning the tables and feigning anger towards you. It's a manipulative move as old as the hills. I won't physically hurt him, but I can play head games with him that will leave him wishing I hurt him."

"Ranger don't. Please. Let's just let this whole thing go."

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes. Please."

"Ok Babe, but if he comes after you one more time, all bets are off."

"He won't…not if you talk to him."

"You should get some sleep. I have to go back downstairs for at least another hour to help Tank straighten out some of the loose ends on the Roebling robbery. We're going to share the video with TPD and we want to make copies before we release it to them."

"Can I help?"

"Just get some sleep Babe, I'll be up as soon as I can."

And he pulled me to him and kissed me. "I'm just glad you're ok. I wanted to kill him when I saw that he hurt you. Tomorrow we can go back to your apartment and get some of your things. Ok Babe?"

I nodded ok. Ranger kissed me again with a kiss that said he'd stay if he could. And I knew that was true. "I love you Babe, now get some sleep."

"I love you too Ranger. Thank you."

I woke up to strong arms coming around me and pulling me close. The arms were followed by some nibbles to my neck and a couple of teasing fingers walking their way way up and down my back. I reached back to find the body attached to the arms was gloriously naked. Oh God.

"I failed on my promise of a night to remember, but I can give you a morning to remember if we start now."

"Mmm Ranger, why now?"

"Because it won't be morning in about an hour."

"Does that make a difference?"

"Not to me it doesn't."

God. I could tell you about my morning, but I'd been committing a whole lot of sins in God's eyes, and I don't think he'd like for me to repeat it. What else can I say? About two hours later, after yet another glorious round, Ranger put his arms around me, "Babe, we should shower up and get over to you apartment. I'd like to get a few days worth of clothes and if you don't mind, attach some cameras to your door."

"I don't need the cameras."

"Morelli's unpredictable right now and I'd like to keep you as safe as I can."

"After you tell him I want him to leave me alone, he'll be fine."

"I'll make a deal with you. If there is no action at your front door after I speak with him, I'll remove the cameras."

That sounded practical and I was going to be here at Rangeman for the next few days anyway, so I agreed, and went off to shower.

I used Ranger's Bulgari Green shower gel and his fabulous Wen sweet almond mint conditioning cleanser in lieu of shampoo and I felt like a million dollars. A girl could get used to this. I sprayed my hair with some of his replenishing treatment that said on the bottle would cut down on frizz, and left his bathroom to try to get it to behave. I didn't have any of my own stuff here, so I just finger-wound the curls and hoped for the best when they dried. I added a couple of swipes of mascara and took a good look at my torn earlobe in his mirror. I hoped like Bobby said, that it would heal on it's own.

When I made my way out to the kitchen, Ranger was making brunch for us. I always had the feeling he'd be a good cook.

"Spinach, mushroom and cheddar egg white omelets Babe," he answered my inquiring look.

They really were good; even though I was sure they were bordering on way too healthy. I mean, no sugar, no carbs, very little fat, jeez. But since Ranger went out of his way to make them for us, I appreciated the effort and ate with gusto.

After brunch we set off for my apartment. Well, that's after stopping in the supply room on three so that Ranger could pick up a couple of micro-cameras. I guessed Hector had a built-in alarm whenever anyone went into his stock room because he appeared just as we were leaving.

"Boss, you need help?" he asked Ranger and winked at me.

"I was going to set up a few cameras around Stephanie's front door and feed them into Rangeman."

"I help. Maybe Chica shoot these out too, sí?"

I can't believe I was still the brunt of that joke, but I laughed along with them and we took one of the Explorer's to my apartment.

Hector and Ranger got the cameras installed while I unpacked the suitcase from Florida and packed it up again with enough outfits and essentials to last through New Year's. I also gathered my hair stuff and my larger make-up bag so I'd have everything I needed to make myself presentable for New Year's Eve.

And I was ready before they were.

They had to remove some old cables that ran along my door from the last time Rangeman installed cameras at my place. Today's technology didn't need co-ax.

Once they had everything in place and had called Rangeman to make sure the cameras were feeding into the system, we packed up the Explorer with my stuff and headed back to Haywood.

Ranger let Hector drive and got in the back with me so we could sit thigh-to-thigh and he could hold me close and nibble on my neck again. Super attentive Ranger was going to be the death of me.

Hector parked in one of Ranger's spots so we'd be closer to the elevator and Ranger and I went up to seven. Hector got off at three—probably to check his inventory.

My phone went off as soon as Ranger fobbed open his front door. Ranger had set me up with the new iPhone and iPad he bought me as late Christmas presents and the display was easy to read. It was my mother. I thought about not answering, but I hadn't spoken to her in days, so I pulled up my big girl panties and took the call.

"Stephanie, where are you?"

"Ranger and I just got back to Trenton, I'm at his apartment."

"Are you _staying_ with him? What about Joe?"

"Ranger has been explaining psychological harassment to me; it's something they learn in the military to wear down their opponent and Joe's been trying to use it against me," I told her, avoiding answering her questions directly but letting her in on more than I usually do.

"Joe wouldn't do anything to hurt you Stephanie. Don't you want to get married again some day? Honestly he's your best chance. He's a nice guy with a good job…"

"Mom, if I issued a restraining order against him like people have been telling me to do, he wouldn't have a _good job_ anymore. Can't you just open your eyes for a minute?"

I never talk back to my mother, but she just didn't get it. She was so hell bent on another 'Burg wedding—well mine and Joe's to be exact, that she couldn't see past her own nose.

"Well Stephanie, I only hope you know what you're doing. I have a nice pot roast for tonight, why don't you and Ranger come over for dinner. I'm sure your father would like to meet him again since you seem to be spending so much time with him."

"Thanks mom, but Ranger doesn't eat pot roast." Or chocolate cake or cookies or ice cream for that matter either.

"Doesn't eat pot roast?" she asked; obviously she heard that one.

"He's into health." I said hoping that was enough and I didn't have to get into it with her.

"Well I can roast him a chicken or make him some tofu," she said, trying to figure out what 'being into health' meant.

"Thanks mom, but that's not necessary. We're trying to keep a low profile for a few days, so we're just going to stay here. I'll come over after New Year's."

"Well if you change your mind, the door is open; six o'clock."

"Thanks mom," and we disconnected.

Ranger was giving me one of his almost smiles. "I'll eat pot roast Babe. It's a little high in saturated fats, but it won't kill you."

"Oh. You didn't want to go anyway, did you?"

"I'd rather be with you; but if you want to go, I'll go."

"Grandma will be there."

He paused for a second before answering.

"You sure know how to kill a man's libido, Babe."

"Well maybe I know how to get it back," I said coyly, walking up to him and skimming my hands up and down his stomach flirtingly.

"Let's unpack your suitcase and then go downstairs. I want to see what TPD made of the video we sent them. We can test out my virility later," he wolf-grinned.

It was Saturday afternoon, but Rangeman never sleeps, or takes a weekend off. I unpacked my suitcase and put my clothes in his closet, on the side with the dresses and my Rangeman uniforms, and we went down to five to see if there were any new developments in the Roebling Jewelry Robbery.

Binky was on monitor duty and called to us as we passed the control room.

"I think you should see this. I wouldn't have made anything of it, but I just saw the memo you sent out," he said talking to both of us but addressing Ranger on the memo thing.

Sure enough, there was Joe at my front door with a Tasty Pastry bag.

The cameras Ranger and Hector just planted didn't have audio but Joe appeared to be saying something. Ranger dug his cell phone out of his pocket and placed a call.

"Morelli," he said when someone answered on the other end, "Manoso. I'm looking at video of you standing in front of Stephanie's door. Don't you think that's a little presumptuous of you after what you did to her last night?"

"I came to apologize."

"I don't think Stephanie wants to talk to you right now, but I do. How about we meet back at your place in fifteen minutes?"

Surprisingly Joe agreed.

"Ram's on duty, isn't he Binky?"

"Yeah Boss. He's in the break room. He just came in with Cal."

"Have him meet me in the garage. Babe I'm going to head out and talk to Joe. I want to take Ram with me as a precautionary measure. Promise me you'll stay in the building until I get back?"

I wasn't going anywhere. I was a little freaked out that Joe showed up at my door again anyway.

"Promise me you won't hurt him."

"I'm not going to hurt him. We're just going to talk."

"Call me when you're done?"

"Come here Babe," he said, taking a step towards me and pulling me in by the collar of my sweatshirt for an uncustomary PDA in front of Binky and any other Rangeman who happened to walk by the mostly windowed room.

He kissed me again and held me tight before breaking apart to save the world from Joe. This was going to spread like wildfire, but I guessed he didn't care. He whispered, "I love you Babe, don't go crazy." So of course I had to respond with "I love you too. Don't get shot." And it wasn't until after I said it that I realized getting shot was a distinct possibility. He was meeting with hotheaded Joe after all.

I just stood there with Binky after Ranger left.

I knew that they all considered me his personal property, Ranger explained that one to me before, but aside from getting caught kissing on camera, this was a first.

Binky just looked at me.

"Yes," I said in way of an explanation and sat down in the vacant chair next to him.

"He finally got his head out of his ass?"

I nodded.

"Good. I think Junior won that bet."

I knew they bet on all kinds of things, but on Ranger and I? Yeash I guessed they did. And since Binky was talking, I thought I'd ask him a couple of questions.

"Is there a Rangeman New Year's Eve party this year?" I asked hoping to get an idea of where Ranger was taking me.

"It's at Shorty's again, we're meeting for pizza and beers around eight. You coming with us?" he asked.

"I don't know. Ranger asked me out, but he wanted me to get dressed up for dinner and dancing so somehow I don't think we're going to Shorty's." Guessed I wasn't going to find out anything from Binky.

"Well if you change your mind, let me know and I'll save you a seat," he said with all seriousness. The Rangeman guys were like brothers to me.

"I'm going to go take a walk around the floor. Ranger was wondering if TPD got anything from the video we sent over yesterday. Maybe Tank, Bobby or Les are around."

"Lester's here. I saw him earlier. He's probably in his office."

"Thanks Binky."

I wandered around and stopped at the cubicle I came to think of as mine. It was the same one I always got when I ran searches for Rangeman. I sat down, turned on the computer and was checking my email when I heard a familiar voice above me."

"Hey Beautiful, you looking for me?"

"Hey Les. Merry Christmas," I said getting up and giving Lester a hug and an air kiss on the cheek.

"TPD are assholes," he said before my question even got out. "They managed to botch the one partial print they found. Now all they have is the video and the guys were masked. I hear Ranger's taking you out for New Year's?"

"Binky?"

"Of course. He couldn't wait to tell me. Happy?"

"Lester, I can't believe this is happening. But I'd be happier if I knew what Joe wanted from me. Ranger went over to talk to him."

"I know. Tank said you're staying here for a few days until this blows over. I'm around all weekend if you want the ears of someone other than Ranger." He paused before wolf grinning at me, "I have some other very desirable body parts too."

"Lester," I said and punched him in the arm. He was impossible.

Ranger had been gone for almost an hour and I was starting to get antsy when my cell phone rang. I looked at the display and saw it was Ranger. Thank God.

"Hey, what happened with Joe?"

"I'll be back in about ten minutes. Meet me on seven and I'll fill you in on our conversation."

"Ok," I said, but he was gone. Guessed old habits were hard to break.

I shut down my computer and walked past the control room on my way to the elevator. Both Les and Binky were in there, so I waved to them and pointed that I was going upstairs. They both nodded, so I knew they understood my sign language.

I had just gotten off the elevator on seven when I heard it engage again and head back down. If I had to bet on it, it was probably Ranger. No one took the elevator between floors except for me. It seemed like the sole purpose of the elevator was to go from the basement to five or the basement to seven, and that was it.

I fobbed myself in and made myself comfortable at the breakfast bar. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three…and the door opened. I didn't even get to one.

"Babe?"

"Hey Ranger, I'm in the kitchen. What happened with Joe?"

Ranger walked through the foyer and into the kitchen. He came up behind me, moved my hair out of the way and feasted on my neck without saying anything.

"Oh God Ranger. You didn't shoot him, did you?"

"Babe. I told you we were just going to talk."

"And?"

"I got your earring back," he said handing me the missing GPS earring.

"But what did he say?"

"He said he can't live without you and he's devastated that you won't let him explain himself. I told him that his actions spoke volumes and you're not interested in carrying on a relationship with a cheater. He said he wasn't cheating, that you and he both agreed that you could go out with other people."

"That was a long time ago. When Joe and I got back together after the Hawaii thing, I thought we were in an exclusive relationship. I know I wasn't going out with anyone else. And you of all people should know that too. I tried to stay away from you."

"And?"

"And I couldn't. But we didn't _do_ anything."

"Listen Babe. And I hope this isn't too hard for you to hear. I asked around and he's been with Terri for years. At least since her divorce from Gilman and probably the whole time you two were together. You know the Grizzoli's are the area's largest crime family. Unfortunately it wouldn't work well for his career as Trenton's vice detective to be associated with a Mafia princess. Illegal gambling, black market cigarettes and stolen merchandise are things he's sworn to make go away, not look the other way."

"You're not telling me anything I haven't suspected. But I guess I thought it was just an occasional thing, like when we'd broken up."

"So to cover up for this association that couldn't be, it was all eyes on Stephanie," he summed it up.

I didn't say anything. I didn't cry and I didn't think I seemed outwardly upset. I did that already. Now I just wanted to get on with my life.

"So tell me about you."

"Babe?"

"Who am I the stand-in for in _your_ life?"

"I told you…nobody. I have not been associated with any woman since Rachel. Not to say I haven't had my share of sex, but that's all it was…sex."

"Jeanne Ellen?"

"What are you asking? Did I have sex with Jeanne Ellen?"

"I had heard that you were a couple."

"That's what people wanted to believe. That the two bad asses were together. No we were not a couple."

I didn't want to probe into that any further, but I knew Ranger would never lie to me.

"And now?" I asked instead, hoping to hear what I really wanted to hear.

"I've already made myself vulnerable by telling you that I love you and want you in my life. Stephanie, I _only _want you."

There were not a lot of words spoken after that. And as you know, actions speak louder than words. So yeah, we spent a lot of time speaking in actions. Like two full days. God.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

"Babe, we need to start getting ready. We have nine o'clock reservations."

"You still haven't told me where we're going Ranger."

"We're going out for New Year's Eve."

"But where?"

"It's a surprise."

Ok we'd been through this before. I guessed I just have to get ready and go along with the _surprise_.

I showered and spent a lot of time on my hair. I got it to fall in soft curls and if I had to say so, it looked really sexy. I put on a little more makeup than I normally do and added an extra coat of mascara…well, just because. I put on the tight, glittery champagne-colored dress and took the Jimmy Choos out of their box.

I took a look at myself in Ranger's full-length mirror and almost didn't recognize me. I turned from the mirror to take a look at Ranger. He was wearing a perfectly tailored black suit, black shirt and a dark grey tie. His hair was sexily messy and he looked hot.

"You look beautiful Babe," he said turning around to look at me.

"Thank you Ranger. And you look almost too good to share with the rest of the world. Maybe we should stay home?" I said thinking about the last two days.

"No. We're going out. I think we both could use a little air. Come on Babe, we have a date."

We went down to the garage and Ranger fobbed open the turbo. Wherever we were going had to be someplace he trusted with this car.

About fifteen minutes later we wound up in front of two seven-foot-tall wrought-iron gates. Ranger fobbed at some mechanism on the side of the gates and they parted for us.

There was a beautiful Victorian house up a small hill. It was lit with candles in the windows and the trees around it shimmered magically, illuminated by tiny lights. As we got closer we could hear music playing and I could smell a luxurious dinner being prepared—the smoke piping out of the chimney in small wisps.

"Where are we Ranger?"

"Shhh. Let's go inside."

He opened the great doors at the front of the house and we stepped inside.

A member of the wait staff came forward, curtsied slightly then took our coats and ushered us through another set of doors.

There was a lavish banquet table set up in the dining room but with only two place settings.

"Ranger?"

"Sit down Babe."

Ranger pulled the chair out for me, kissed my neck and helped me get comfortable. Then he sat down next to me and another member of the wait staff came over, poured some champagne into our glasses and slipped away.

Ranger raised his glass in a toast. "To us Babe."

I toasted back. "To us."

We each took a sip and then Ranger got down on one knee next to me.

"Stephanie Plum, will you marry me?"

I thought he was kidding me, but he had a ring box in his hand. I guessed my jaw dropped.

"Stephanie?"

"Ranger. You're kidding right?"

"No Babe. Nothing would make me happier than you saying you'll be my wife."

I was freaked. Not only was I not expecting this, I didn't even know where we were.

"Ranger where are we?"

"Well if you like this place, this could be our home. But you haven't answered me yet."

Ranger was still on one knee in front of me. A beautiful, large diamond surrounded by smaller ones was still in his hand and he was looking at me for an answer.

"This is so sudden."

"Babe, please. I need to know. Will you marry me?"

"Yes Ranger. I'd be honored to be your wife."

He kissed me with all the intensity of the love we'd shared over the last few days and then he put the ring on my finger.

"I love you Babe."

"I love you too Ranger."

Then magically there was the sound of church bells ringing in the distance…


End file.
